Shifting into love
by purplepidgioncommandbase
Summary: One night changed everything for Greg and now he has to deal with the changes that night made. Now he is living in a world he never knew existed and has to keep the man he loves in the dark or else facing losing him.SLASH WARNING!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first attempt at a SLASH fiction so please be kind while reviewing. I know the first few chapters wont seem like much slash but I'm hoping that the longer I work on this the better I'll be at it. By the way the first few chapters are mainly going to be centered about Greg, I'll try to get deeper inside Nick's head in later chapters. I hope you enjoy this story because I am having a blast writing it.

Greg Sanders walked out of the bar him and his friends/co-workers were at celebrating closing a case that involved the murder of five-year-old Miranda Wellington. Greg was the one who discovered the evidence that put Janet Wellington (her mother) and her boyfriend Ralph Warren in prison. The damning piece of evidence was a strand of hair encrusted into the fatal wound that was caused by her mother smashing the back of her skull in with a baseball bat.

Everyone had been extremely disturbed over this case. This was not the first case that involved the murder of a child but the reason this had struck such a hard core was because her mother's boyfriend had raped the child before she was killed. Nick had been extremely affected by the case because when he was younger his babysitter had raped him. Grissom had repeatedly asked if he should take him off the case but Nick kept telling him that he was fine and that he could handle it. But tonight they had found out otherwise when Nick had had one too many drinks. He admitted to having broken down in the locker room soon after discovering that the child had been raped and continued to break down with each passing day the murderers and rapist were at large.

Greg was too intoxicated to be driving so after his fifth or six drink he called it a night and said goodnight to everyone. His plan was to hail a taxi but luck was not on his side because no taxies appeared to be heading his way so after waiting for 30 minutes he decided to walk home.

The rain hammered down onto the cars, pavement and of course Greg himself. He trudged along in his soaking clothes, shivering, most likely going to catch phenomena, if he had to be sick he hoped for the first option. As he was passing an alley he was yanked inside and slammed up against a brick wall that scraped at his exposed back. A knife was whipped out by the man restraining him and pressed the blade up against his jugular. Greg couldn't help but feel regret that if he were to die he would never be able to tell Nick how he really felt about him. "Don't worry Greg, we're not going to kill you" said the man. Surprisingly it wasn't the fact that the man holding the knife knew his name what scared him was that he had said there were more guys hiding in the darkness.

"What do you want?" he asked the man with a slight tremor in his voice "we just want you to join our 'club'" a man stepped out from the shadows wearing a completely black outfit cradling a smooth metal case. The man stopped next to the man restraining Greg and unlatched the case to reveal a syringe filled to the brim with a blue fluid. Greg's eyes widened in fright and he began to struggle. "The more you struggle the more painful my grip will become" the man's grip increased and Greg cried out. The shot was taken out of the case and glistened in the gleam from the street lamp "ready to become a member?" Greg could only stare on in horror as the needle came towards his neck and flinched when the needle punctured his skin.

The fluid entered his bloodstream and almost immediately his body began to violently shake, he continued to be restrained until his body stopped shaking and his chin slumped down to his chest. The man with the case checked his pulse and was pleased when he found one, he nodded to the man beside him and Greg's body was carried over to a black van and placed inside the van; once the two men were inside the van the vehicle took off into the night.

Many hours later Greg woke up in his apartment on his bed with an aching hangover. Greg slowly sat up on the bed and carefully planted his feet on the floor, wanting to be careful not to topple over with the way the room was spinning.

He stumbled into his bathroom over to the toilet where he made it just in time to throw up the contents of his stomach. When he was done throwing up he rested his head against the cool tile floor and prayed to the gods above that his murderous headache would go away. Not liking the sick taste in his mouth he slowly got up from the floor and dragged his body over to the sink to wash his mouth out. He cupped his hands under the flow of cold water and sipped the water into his mouth and washed his mouth out.

After his mouth felt relatively clean he looked up at himself in the mirror and was stunned when he saw a few specks of dry blood on his shirt collar. He craned his neck and saw the cause of the blood, a small hole in his neck, most likely from a shot of some kind. Upon realization the memories of last night came back.

Him coming across the alley, being pulled into the alley, knife being held against his throat, two guys that knew who he was and wanted him to join some 'club' of theirs and finally the injection of the shot.

"Oh god" he breathed, terrified that he had no clue as to what had been injected into him and even more freaked out because he had apparently been brought back to his own apartment meaning they knew where he lived. His heart rate accelerated and he felt as if his throat was closing up on him. He gripped the edges of the sink and struggled to take in deep breaths. "Come on Greg calm down, you can't help yourself by having a panic attack" he scolded himself. His breathing and heart rate eventually evened out and his mind was clear of enough panic he finally noticed the bloody bandaging around his right arm. "What the hell?" he straightened himself out and gently started pulling the bandage off, whatever had happened to his arm had to have been pretty bad because a huge oval of dried blood was on the bandage.

The bandage was finally off after a few moments of having to get enough courage to actually find out what had happened to his arm. He prayed it wasn't another injection. Just as he was about to look down at his arm his phone went off. Saved by the ring! He went as fast as he could out of the bathroom and over to his ringing phone. He picked up the phone and as he was about to say hello his still aching head punished him for moving too fast and he had to take a moment to soften the pounding in his head.

"Greg?" said a voice on the phone. Greg brought the phone up to his ear and responded "hey Grissom" Greg said, all ready knowing who the caller was by the time on the clock that said he was pretty much an hour late for work. "Why aren't you at Work, are you sick?" asked Grissom although he had a feeling that the sickness was a hangover. Greg looked down at his arm and was shocked into silence. On his arm was a small array of digital looking cubes and circles that on closer inspection were tattooed onto his arm. "Greg? You still there?" Grissom asked concerned "yeah, yeah I'm still here. Listen um, I'm not feeling too well so I think I'm going to stay home today" his eyes were still trained on his arm in shock "okay Greg I'll see you tomorrow then" Grissom hung up and Greg slowly placed the phone down.

He was suddenly overcome with a pain that started from his head that spread throughout his entire body. When he took a step forward he lost his balance and stumbled until he crashed against the wall. His entire body felt like it was being torn apart from the inside out and all he wanted to do was lay down on the floor and die just to get away from it all. He suddenly found that his body was starting to tip backwards but that was impossible because he was standing up against the wall and he also noticed that the temperature in the room was colder on one side then the other. This was when he noticed that his legs were laying in his living room and his upper body was in old Miss Jenkins kitchen who was staring at him in shock.

"Sorry Miss Jenkins" Greg quickly sat himself up and was once again completely in his living room. "What the hell is happening to me?" he said aloud. As he sat on the floor he realized that he didn't tell Grissom about what had happened to him last night. Why didn't I tell him? He thought to himself as he walked back to his bathroom. Along the way he shrugged out of his shirt and carelessly dropped it onto the floor.

Once he was in the bathroom, like a mindless drone, he peeled the rest of his clothes off his body and turned the shower on. His mind must have been going on autopilot because before he knew it he was stepping into a hot running shower. He picked up a bar of soap and a washcloth and started scrubbing away the disgusting reminders of last night. As he scrubbed more flashes of last night came of him being helpless as he was pulled into the alley, the shot entering his bloodstream and the pain he felt from whatever had been injected into him. The more frightening the images, the harder he scrubbed which caused his skin to turn a bright pink almost red color. He didn't even notice the scolding temperature of the water or the tenderness of his skin as he continued to do more damage then good. Blood that had been crusted around his neck and hair pooled down his body and down the sink. Fresh blood also traveled down his body from his skin that he was scrubbing raw. He didn't even feel the stinging sensation on his skin. It was when the cloth slipped from his hand that he saw the blood. Greg completely forgot about the rag and watched, transfixed, as blood streamed down his arms and down the drain, mixing in with the water giving the allusion that there was more blood then there really was. He slid down the tiled wall behind him and curled in on himself, in the fetal position, and felt the water spray down into his eyes blurring his vision. But he didn't care.

After a little while of lying curled up on the floor of his shower he pulled himself together and got back to cleaning himself. He reached over and grabbed his AXE shampoo and squeezed a generous amount into the palm of his hand then gingerly started massaging it into his scalp, he moaned in pleasure from the feeling of washing his dirty hair and getting rid of even more of the blood that had crusted up there. He didn't know where all the blood came from because as far as he could tell the only injury he had was on his neck and arm but that didn't account for the rest of the blood he was slowly discovering. What did he go out and murder someone…no! He wasn't going to think like that! He was pretty sure that if he murdered someone he would have at least had a flashback of someone screaming like they do in the movies but he had experienced nothing like that beside his own attack so murder was out of the question. Then what else had happened?

When Greg was finished with his shower he turned the water off, stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked out of the bathroom and into his bathroom to change into some clean clothes.

He changed into his favorite baggy jeans and a slim fitting long-sleeved gray and black shirt. Feeling the need to more thoroughly clean himself up he walked back into his bathroom and brushed his teeth. Just as he was reaching for the mouthwash he heard a knocking on his apartment door. Not really wanting company he decided to pretend that no one was home but then the visitor spoke. "Open up Greg! I'm trying to be civil by letting you inviting me in but I can just as easily let myself in if you do not open this door in the next ten seconds! One…two…three…"Greg recognized the voice from last night and quickly hurried down the hallway and over to the door. "Five…six…seven…"Greg unlocked the door and yanked it open to reveal the man and whom Greg assumed was his companion from last night. "Hello Greg, how are you?" Greg glared at them but wanting his questions answered allowed them to come inside. He closed the door behind them and turned to face them.

"Who are you and what the hell did you do to me?" he demanded. The man who was obviously in charge of the situation walked towards him and Greg found himself pressed up against the door in fear of what the man might do. He winched from the doorknob smashed into his back. "My name is Sean and this is my companion Toby and what you've obviously experienced is called shifting" Sean replied "shifting? I fell through a fucking wall and you acting as if this is the most normal thing in the world!" Greg said outraged "I apologize for my insincerities and for the rude way we treated you last night. I am normally a very likeable person but when our people are involved-" Greg stood up from the door "our people? What do you mean by our people?" Greg had all ready thought this guy was insane but now he had proof "yes, you see Greg in the world there is a small amount of people, around 2% I'd say, that are born with a special gene that lays dormant until activated by a little substance we like to call chemical 2113. Our people are a dying race and if we continue to allow the dormant genes to remain asleep we will slowly but surely die out in a few years time" Sean explained "and how did you know I was one of these special people?" Greg asked, "I mean for all you know that chemical could have just caused me to hallucinate. I-I…" the pain he had experienced before came back and this time he was forced to his knees clutching his head and screamed in anguish. "Toby, the package" Toby took a paper wrapped package out of his coat and handed it to Sean who swiftly ripped the package open and pulled one of the syringes out that was as long as a sharpened down pencil and was filled with a clear fluid.

Sean uncapped the shot and held down Greg's withering form and stabbed the needle into the side of his neck. Greg was in too much pain to even notice that another shot had injected something into him. Sean stood up from the floor and placed the package on Greg's coffee table. "What you are currently experiencing is your shifting gene stabilizing. Your gene is currently unstable and if you do not take these shots every seven hours for the next two weeks you could die and we wouldn't want that" Greg barely managed to make out what was being said to him but he got the gist of it: His gene was unstable and if he didn't take those shots every seven hours he would die. "We'll be in touch Greg oh and don't even think of telling anyone because there could be grave consequences" Sean and Toby walked towards the door. The pain Greg was experiencing was slowly subsiding and he watched as Sean and Toby exited his apartment. It was a few minutes later when the pain was completely gone and he stood up from the floor. On shaky legs he wobbled over, like a toddler learning how to walk, to the package and looked inside to find twelve more finger sized shots. He picked up one of the shots and examined it. 'I could go into the lab and tell Grissom that he suddenly felt better and decided to come into work' he thought as he pocketed three of the shots, grabbed his car keys and ID and left his apartment. The reason he was going into the lab was to analyze the fluid in the shots to see what had been injected into him. He walked around the back of the building and got his car out of the garage.


	2. Chapter 2

Ten minutes later he parked in his space in front of the Crime Lab building. He got out of his car and hurried inside the building flashing his ID at the guard. As Greg was walking towards his lab he ran into Nick who was bringing a bag of evidence to Hodges.

"Oh hey Greg, thought you weren't coming into work today?" Nick asked with that Texan accent that he loved.

"I wasn't but then I felt better and decided I might as well go to work" Greg tried to make a hasty retreat but Nick blocked his exit.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? You look a little flushed" Nick asked concerned.

Of all the days Nick had to be concerned about Greg's health it had to be the day that Greg really didn't need it, nor want it.

"Yeah, I just had to rush here before I was even more late so don't worry about me I'll be fine" and before Nick could make another comment Greg hurried past him and locked himself in his lab.

He walked over to his table where the equipment he needed was set up and pulled on a pair of gloves. Hoping and praying that he would find a fingerprint on one or all of the shots he took each of them and set them up on the table in a row. He got what he preferred to call 'the fingerprint dust' (if anyone knows what they call the powder they use to pick up fingerprints please tell me because I don't know) and lightly ran the powder over the first shot. When he finished the entire procedure he was happy to find two partial prints. One of them was likely his but the other was hopefully one of Sean's or Toby's. He scanned the two prints and the first print was in fact his but the other print was still going through the database. When the scan finally stopped it told him that the print was unknown. Great! So much for finding out who those guys were that way!

After that failed attempt he picked up the second shot and did the test again. Two prints, one was his the other unknown. The same went for the last one.

Now knowing that he wasn't going to be able to find out the identities of the men that easily he went on to analyzing the fluids. He took out a glass slab and pressed down on one of the shots to drip down onto the slab, he then placed the slab on the stage of the microscope and looked through the eyepiece then adjusted the fine adjustment knob to get a closer look at the fluid. Greg almost didn't believe what he was seeing: antibodies, he had been injected with antibodies but antibodies for what exactly he didn't know, he was startled by the sudden closing of the door, he looked away from his work to see Grissom standing in his doorway with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a confused expression on his face.

"I thought I had given you the day off?" he said confused.

"Yeah I know but I was feeling better and decided to come into work" Greg said while hoping that Grissom wouldn't ask what he had been looking at.

"Good, now that you're here then you can help us out on a case. We're shorthanded as it is and we can use all the help we can get on this one" Grissom turned and opened the door then walked out, Greg, assuming he was mean to follow hurried after the older man and followed him towards the briefing room.

Everyone looked up from their coffee when Grissom and Greg entered and Greg quickly left Grissom's side and took a seat next to Sara who was eating one of her cucumber sandwiches which Greg thought were disgusting and unsanitary.

"All right everyone now I know you have all been working double shifts but we need all the help we can get so your going to have to deal with it" Grissom walked over to the head of the table and picked up a remote and turned the screen on to show a picture of the latest crime scene.

"Tina Lothspiech was found in her bathtub at 6:13 AM by her husband in their apartment. The initial cause of death was drowning by suicide but then Doc examined the body and discovered that the victim had been killed before being placed in the tub by a blunt force trauma to the back of the head the weapon has yet to be found and there are absolutely no fingerprints found at the scene. She also had a very distinct tattoo on her right arm, we don't know yet if it is significant to the case but we will soon find out"

Greg's eyes widened when he saw the exact same tattoo on his own arm but he wasn't about to voice that to everyone.

"Our only suspect at this point is the husband who has no alibi and the couple was known to have been going to therapy because the husband had been found cheating"

The picture changed to show a trail of blood leading into the bathroom

"This trail of blood belong to the victim coming from the bedroom, through the living room and finally into the bathroom. This is all we have people so please find me something so we can put this murderer behind bars"

The TV switched off and everyone stood up from the table.

"Warrick, Sara I want you to go talk to the husband. He's currently at work so here's the address"

Warrick and Sara nodded and grabbed the post it note from Grissom and headed off to do their jobs. Grissom turned to Nick, Greg and Catherine

"Nick, Greg I want you to go back to the crime scene and look for anything we might have missed and Catherine you and I are going to go down to examine Tina's body" When the remaining people had their assignments they walked out of the room and headed off to do their assignments. As Nick and Greg were passing Greg's lab Greg suddenly remembered the shots he had left on the table in plain sight and stopped walking, Nick looked back at him curiously

"What are ya' doing Greg? We have a scene to get to," said Nick.

"I forgot my ID in my lab. I'll be right back it will only take a sec" Greg hurried into his lab and quickly stashed his ID in his pocket then discreetly shoved the shots into his other pocket.

He stepped out of the lab to Nick who was waiting for him.

"Ready to go now?" Nick asked a little irritated

"Yep" Greg started walking off and Nick hurried after him, surprised at the speed the younger man suddenly possessed.

"So I assume we're taking your car?" asked Greg as they walked down the garage.

"You would be correct and no you can't choose the station" Nick unlocked his Denali and Greg got into the passenger seat and Nick walked around to the driver's side.

He started the engine and the radio turned on to a country station and Greg inwardly groaned. Nick noticed the displeased look on Greg's face and smirked.

"I told you my car my music" he pulled out of the garage and drove out onto the road.

Greg looked down at the clock and saw that it was now 10:13 AM, an hour since he had last taken his medication giving him six hours until the next dosage was needed. To get his mind off of that disturbing fact he maneuvered his thoughts over to Nick. He was as discreet as he could be in watching the other man, the way he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music, his chocolate orbs twinkling in the light, the grin that made cute little crinkles appear on each side of his lips-

"Something catch ya interest?" Nick turned to look at Greg and Greg could feel his cheeks burn up and quickly looked away and pretended to find the dust on his window very interesting.

"Come on Greg I sure as hell know it ain't the music," Nick chided.

"just not completely awake I guess" he replied. Nick didn't believe him but dropped the subject anyway.

They arrived at the crime scene fifteen minutes later and got out of the car and walked towards the crime scene tape where they were stopped by an officer.

"Let me guess, CSI?" he said.

Nick and Greg took out their badges and showed them to him "follow me" the tape was lifted and they walked under the tape and followed the officer up the path to the door.

"We can take it from here" Nick said, the officer nodded and the two CSI'S entered the building.

They walked up the stairs and when they reached the correct floor they found police officers stationed outside the door, they walked over to the door and flashed their badges again and were allowed entrance.

Nick and Greg walked into the room and looked around the room. "Okay Greggo you take the left side of apartment, I'll take the right"

They split off and went to do their respective work. Greg opened his kit and got to work. He pulled on his gloves and examined the carpet before him and for some reason he felt the urge to start feeling along the walls, he stopped when he felt something wet and turned his gloved hand over to reveal wet paint.

"Hey Nick I think I got something" Nick stopped what he was doing and turned to see what Greg was talking about.

Greg showed him the wet paint on his gloves and Nick stood up and walked over to him. "Wet paint" Greg clarified indicating the wall behind him.

"Now why would you paint the walls after killing someone?" Greg questioned.

"And why is it still wet and you can't smell it?" Greg added.

"I don't know but lets find out. Take a sample of that paint and tell me if you find anything," Nick said. Greg did as he was told and marked the area.

After that little find Greg took the evidence he had found and got a ride back to the lab by one of the officers. He walked into his lab and started examining the paint. After scanning the paint he found that the paint contained propylene glycol and linseed meaning that it was glaze, paint glaze to be exact. And he discovered that the VOC levels on the paint were very low making the paint have almost no fumes. He took out his cell phone and speed dialed Nick.

"Hello?" said the familiar Texan voice that thrilled Greg whenever he heard it.

"The paint is a glazer containing low levels of VOC making the fumes almost non-existent that's why it didn't dry or smell" Greg said excitedly.

"Okay now all we have to do is find out what someone didn't want hidden" Nick turned back to the wall.

"You can come on back now we have some more evidence to process" Nick closed his phone and pocketed his cell.

"Goodbye to you too" Greg closed his phone and headed out of his lab and walked down the hallway and out of the building.

He walked down the garage and just as he was taking his car keys out of his pocket he's grabbed from behind and forced behind a pillar.

"We have a problem," said Sean who was standing in front of him while Toby held him in place.

Toby removed his hand and Greg was able to speak "antibodies, you injected antibodies into me. Why?" Greg demanded.

"You're new gene has a very specific strand of DNA and needs to be exposed to certain things in order for it to settle down to a safer level the boss did say you were a bright one" Sean commented

"Who is the boss?" Greg asked.

"Someone you're going to meet very soon" out of nowhere Greg was suddenly knocked out and collapsed into the waiting arms of Sean.

Sean looked up from Greg to Toby who was waiting for his orders.

"Lets go" Sean dragged Greg's unconscious form over to the wall and Toby followed after him.

They stopped at the wall then with a quick breath stepped through the wall and appeared on the outside of the garage. A familiar black van pulled up beside the three and the side door opened and Greg was carefully handed inside.

"Be careful with this one boys the boss doesn't want a single hair out of place" Sean and Toby climbed into the van and shut the door the van then took off.

Nick picked up a scalpel from his kit and on pure instinct carefully cut into the still wet paint. He took the chunk off and discovered a red line underneath, upon discovering this Nick cut out another piece and discovered more red lines but this time it looked like a number. Something was written underneath the paint!

Greg woke up and had to squeeze his eyes shut from the intense light that invaded his sensitive pupils.

"Welcome to the sanctum" Greg recognized that voice he would recognize that voice anywhere but he didn't want to believe that he was hearing it now.

He shook his head in denial and kept his eyes shut. He could literally feel the man getting closer and he really hoped that if he were to open his eyes he wouldn't see whom he thought he would see.

"Come on Gregory open your eyes," said the all too familiar voice.

Greg shook his head, not wanting to face the reality before him.

"There is nothing to be afraid of Gregory. No one here will hurt you" the voice before him said.

"Nothing but the identity of the boss" Greg replied.

He heard a sigh from the man and Greg knew he was right about the identity of the man before him. The man lifted Greg's chin up and Greg reluctantly opened his eyes to see the man before him. His father.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello son" George Sanders said.

"Your the boss. I thought you were in California with mom?" Greg questioned.

"As far as she knows I'm at a conventin in Las Vegas staying at the Excalibur Hotel" Greg's chin was released and Greg looked away from him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Greg asked.

"Tell you what?" George asked although he all ready knew what he was asking. "About my special gene and how it would appear that I got it from you" Greg answered.

"You weren't ready and it wasn't until you were in that lab explosion that I knew your gene had to be awakened," he explained.

"How did you know I even had the gene? I might not have been a part of the 2%" Greg needed answers. George pulled up a chair and sat down across from his son.

"I took some of the blood from one of the bandages used to bandage one of your wounds. I brought it back here and one of my men analyzed it and found the shifting gene," George explained.

Greg was lost for words. He truly had no idea what to say to his father.

"I know that this must be quite a bit of a shock-"

"A shock?! I just found out that I have some mutated gene and my father is the boss of some underground world filled with actual mobsters" Greg said flabbergasted.

"You have every right to be mad at me but we have a serious problem that needs to be dealt with" George insisted.

The investigative part of Greg was dying to find out what was going on and against his better judgment he asked. "What kind of problem" Greg looked at his father expectantly.

"The crime scene you and Nicholas Stokes were just at is one of ours. Her name was Tina Lothspiech, though I'm sure you all ready knew that. She was a member of our society but we are now 100% certain that she was a traitor and she needed to be dealt with" George stated.

Greg looked at him in shock.

"You killed her?" he couldn't believe what he was hearing but the evidence was there and he would have to accept it: His father was a murderer.

"Killing her was a last resort and I regret having to use such methods but when we discovered she planned on exploiting us and she wouldn't listen to reason. We had no other choice" George tried to make his son see reason but he could tell that by the way his son looked at him like he was a complete stranger that his methods weren't working.

"You want me to clean up your mess don't you? Make it seem like someone else did it" he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the man he used to look up to when he was littler was really one of the people he had sworn to put behind bars.

"No! No! I don't want you to frame anyone I just want you to make sure that no one finds out about shifting" George explained.

"I can't do that dad. I'm not going to clean up your mess. If people find out about shifting it's your own fault"

Greg stood up from his chair and his father stood up from his as well.

"All of us are at risk son and I was really hoping it wouldn't have to come to this but I'm afraid that if you don't help us Nicholas Stokes will have to pay the price" Greg said regretfully.

"You go anywhere near him and blood be damned I'll kill you!" Greg shouted.

"I know how you feel about him son but if you really love him then do yourself a favor and protect yourself in the process" George put a hand on his shoulder and Greg visibly flinched away from his touch.

"Okay I'll do whatever you want just don't hurt him" Greg gave in.

"Wise decision son" George turned to someone Greg couldn't see.

"Take him back and no harm better come to him" but the damage had all ready been done and more harm was inflicted when he was knocked out and swung over Toby's broad shoulder.

"Forgive me son" George said as Greg was carried away.

When Greg woke up he was sitting in his Denali. He saw that his keys were all ready in the ignition so he turned the keys and his clock and radio came on blasting a Marilyn Manson song. He looked down at the clock and saw that it was 12:30 giving him only an hour left until he needed to take the next shot. So he had been out of it for two hours. He wondered why Nick hadn't sent a search party after him. He pulled out of the garage and out onto the road. As he was driving down the road his phone went off, he reached over and put the phone on speaker.

"Greg where the hell are you man? You said you were heading back three hours ago" Nick said "sorry Nick.

Wendy needed my help with some evidence and time just got away from me.

"Greg lied, glad Nick couldn't see him because he would be able to see right through the lie.

"Just get back here there's something you need to see under the paint."

Nick said while looking at the wall before him.

"What is it?" Greg asked timidly.

"numbers G, hundreds of numbers" Nick replied.

"I'll be right there. See ya soon" Greg hung up and the speed of his car increased.

Nick lifted his camera and took another picture of the wall.

Back in the car Greg was panicking. Nick might have found what his father was trying to hide and if Greg didn't stop Nick from digging any deeper then he all ready had he could lose the love of his life and with that thought he pressed his foot down all the way on the accelerator seeming to break the speed of light as blurs whizzed past him.

Greg arrived at the crime scene and jumped out of the car, quickly locked his doors and dashed inside. He hurried up the stairs and inside the room to find Nick taking pictures of the wall.

Nick heard the sound of panting behind him, he turned around and found Greg wheezing and gasping like he had just ran marathon.

"Geez Greg what did you do run all the way here?"

Nick joked as he turned back to the evidence before him and resumed taking pictures.

"You could say that. You said you found something?"

Greg walked over to Nick and stood beside him.

"Yeah, looks like someone had an obsession with numbers. Thing that I don't get is if the numbers are just random or if they mean something"

Greg examined the wall and froze when he saw a familiar set of numbers, his own. These #'s were shifter's phone #'s and social security #'s. How Tina had gotten this information eluded him but then again his private information is located on several different computers so she could have gotten it anywhere.

"Greg? You still with me?" a rough shake of his shoulder knocked him out of his stupor and he realized that Nick had been trying to talk to him.

"Yeah. I must have zoned out, I have a lot on my mind" and boy did he.

"I was just saying that we should get back to the lab and get these #'s processed. See if they mean anything" Nick repeated wondering what was going on in that ex-lab rat's head.

"Sure. Let's get going"

Greg took one last look at the wall then helped Nick picked up the bags of evidence, along with their kits and walked out of the apartment.

Nick and Greg walked out of the building with their collected evidence and headed over to their separate cars. Nick looked at Greg curiously as he hastily pulled the right sleeve of his long-sleeved shirt down over his arm and for the first time Nick wondered why he was wearing a long sleeved shirt in the middle of the Summer when normally he would be seen wearing one of his crazy band T-Shirts.

"Hey Greg what's with the winter get up?" Nick asked as he put his kit and evidence in the back of his car and closed the door as he patiently waited for Greg to answer him.

Greg placed his kit in the back of his Denali, closed the door and hesitantly turned around to face Nick. He nervously played with a loose strand of thread from the ending of his shirt and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"The rest of my clothes were dirty and I really didn't feel like putting on an infestation of unclean particles" he replied hoping Nick would drop the subject.

Nick noted the nervous habits Greg was exhibiting and could tell by the way he avoided eye contact that he was lying, for as long as Nick had known him Greg had always been a terrible liar. Yes he had just pulled a full on Grissom.

"You're lying. What's really going on? You look like you've just committed a crime" Nick commented, moving closer towards the cowardly young man.

'Not yet, but I will" Greg wanted to say but instead settled for backing away from the intimidating man before him.

"You sure you're feeling good enough to work? Because if your not you should really be at home so you don't get any worse" Greg would have been flattered that Nick showed so much concern for his well being but right now he really wished that Nick would just let his obvious unwellness go.

"I'm good Nick, lets just get this stuff back to the lab before Griss gets on our cases about taking too long" Greg tried to walk past Nick but Nick wanted the truth so he grabbed Greg by the right sleeve and in the process, with Greg struggling out of his grip, he managed to rip the sleeve off.

Greg and Nick stood in shock over what had just happened. "I'm sorry Greg, I didn't mean to do that I'll-"

Nick stopped talking when he saw the tattoo on Greg's forearm. Greg followed Nick's train of sight and was horrified that the tattoo had been revealed.

"Greg where did you get that?" Nick asked, an image of the victim's tattoo coming to mind.

Greg's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. He didn't know how to answer this, he had been caught and the only weak lie he could come up with was that he had drawn it so that he would remember what the tat looked like but that was what pictures were for and he wasn't that good of a drawer anyway. Nick took a step towards him.

"The tattoo is exactly the same as the tattoo found on Tina Lothspiech. Why do you have that tattoo Greg, did you know her?" now Nick was in full on interrogation mode.

"No I didn't know her and I don't know why we have the same tattoo. I was drunk when I got it and its green so it wouldn't come off even if I had it removed" Greg was surprised that he had managed to keep his poker face on, he actually believed it himself now he only had to hope that Nick believed him too.

Nick appeared to be thinking over what he had just been told and through his mind flipped through all the doubts he had about it. He knew that they had gotten pretty wasted last night, he had paid for that this morning but they had been nowhere near a tattoo parlor, as far as he knew and Greg seemed to be clear minded enough to notice that a needle was being punctured into his skin. But then again maybe he had been drunk enough not to have felt anything, it could explain why he was late coming into work because he was not only wracked with a hangover but also the embarrassment of having a tattoo.

"Okay, it's a sketchy excuse but I'll take it. I'm sorry about the shirt by the way, I'll buy you a new one," he promised.

Greg smiled and shook his head

"s'okay this shirt was getting old anyway" Greg replied casually taking the torn sleeve from Nick's hand and stuffing it in his pocket.

Nick looked at him quizzically

"could come in use later" Greg explained. Nick nodded his head, although he still found it a little strange.

"I'll see you at the lab then" Nick turned and walked back over to his car and got inside. From his rearview mirror he watched as Greg got into his car and once he was behind the wheel Nick turned the ignition on and pulled away from the curb.

Further on down the road he watched Greg's car in his rearview mirror to make sure that he hadn't lost him in traffic, the other reason he was keeping such a close eye on Greg was because he was concerned about the younger man.

Nobody, and defiantly not his parents knew that he was gay. He had been playing the role of a straight man for many years, flirting with attractive woman and even going so far as to go out with them that usually ended with a kiss goodnight and the disappointed looks on the girl's faces. Obviously they were helping for something more but he just wasn't feeling it. Over the years of playing a straight man he had earned the title of a ladies man. Nick's real fantasy belonged to Greg, and Greg alone. From the moment he first saw the spunky blond he had been head over heels in love but Greg Sanders was such a ladies man himself, always having stories to tell about past conquests of the opposite sex that there was no way that Greg would ever be interested in him. But that didn't mean he didn't hope that maybe he was wrong and they were both waiting for the other to admit his feelings first.

He looked back at his mirror after his zoning out and he panicked when he saw Greg's car swerve and narrowly miss ramming into the side of another car. The angry driver of the car honked and flipped Greg off as he sped off, going well over the speed limit.

Greg had been driving in his car behind Nick when the vibrating pain behind his eyes returned and his vision became distorted. He tried to keep his car in control but the tires veered off track and it was only when a car angrily looked at him that he whipped back into place but his head was killing him and his vision was bad enough that he was forced to squint and signal that he was pulling over He carefully steered his car out of traffic and into a parking lot for a cockroach hotel. Nick pulled in beside him and got out of his car. Greg remained seated and gripped the steering wheel in an attempt to get a grip on the pain.

Nick got out of his car and hurried over to Greg's window. When he was close enough he saw that Greg was gripping the steering wheel like it was lifeline and his face was distorted in pain. He tapped on the window in an attempt to get his attention but Greg just stared ahead and if anything his grip on the wheel increased.

"Greg? Are you okay?"

When he received no answer he tried banging on the door and pulling at the handling.

"Open the door Greg!"

He shouted with another pound on the window. To an outsider this would look like somebody trying to steal a car and to add to his problems he saw that he had attracted an audience and he quickly had to do damage control. He took out his badge and showed it to them.

"I'm with Crime Lab. There's nothing to see here folks so move along"

As expected no one left some even took out their phones and started taking pictures. Didn't these people have lives? He turned back to Greg and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that Greg appeared to be having a seizure. He was thrashing about in the car, knocking his head against the headrest and his eyes were rolled back into his skull.

No longer caring about keeping the car in tact Nick moved over to the window of the backseats, lifted his right elbow and rammed it in again and again until he had created a hole big enough to put his hand through and unlock the door. His elbow was killing him and the little shards of glass embedded in his skin stung like hell but his own injuries could wait because all he was about was Greg. Nick leaned over and unbuckled Greg's seatbelt then unlocked his door and quickly got out.

He opened Greg's door and carefully pulled out Greg's still writhering form then put him on the concrete and quickly took off his TAC vest since it was the only considerably soft thing he had and laid it under Greg's head so he would bash his head on the hard road floor. He reached into Greg's car and got on his radio.

"This is CSI Stokes my partner, CSI Sanders is in critical condition and is in need of medical assistance!"

**Sorry this took so long to update but I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you want more your going to have to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Nick tried to keep Greg from jumping around by firmly placing a hand on his chest, being careful not to cause any damage.

"Okay what is your location?" asked the female officer in a business like tone.

Nick looked over at a street sign and relayed the information to her.

"Just hang on sir help is on the way," the officer said.

"Thanks you" Nick hung up and focused all his attention on preventing Greg from hurting himself.

"Don't worry Greg help is on the way," he told him but it felt more like he was reassuring himself.

All while this was going on Greg was trying in vain to get his vocals to work. He needed to tell Nick that he was fine but of course that was a downright lie because even a five year old could tell that he was anything but fine. Greg feeling helpless and he really hated that he was discreetly trying to reach into his pocket to get one of his supposed life saving shots but he couldn't inject himself with it in front of Nick because then he would look like he was going through withdrawal which in a sick sort of way he was.

During all his thrashing he must have bitten his tongue because he could taste the copper of blood in his mouth and that made him want to gag but he kept it down for not only his sake but Nick's as well because he was pretty sure Nick didn't want to see him upchuck.

A few minutes later they could hear the approaching sirens and Nick looked down at Greg and smiled reassuringly.

"Help is almost here Greg, just hang on and you'll have the help you need" Nick noticed the panicked look on Greg's face and tried to reassure him that everything was going to be okay.

But Greg wasn't worried about help not making it in time, he was concerned about what the paramedics and doctors would find not only in his bloodstream but in his pants pocket. If they found the shots in his pocket the doctors would do a blood test and hopefully they wouldn't find anything in his bloodstream but he didn't know if injecting antibodies into your system left any trace. He prayed it didn't. Another thing that scared him was that the doctors would inform Nick of what they found and he could only imagine the disappointed look on Nick's face and he would surely be suspended or even fired.

The ambulance parked behind the two cars and two paramedics got out of the back of the ambulance and hurried over to Nick and Greg with a stretcher and medical supplies. They kneeled next to Greg and started checking his vitals. One of the paramedics looked at Nick and started asking him questions.

"Sir I'm going to need you tell me exactly what happened" the female paramedic requested as she checked Greg's eyelids to find that they were defiantly dilated.

"We were driving back from a scene when I look in the rearview mirror and see him narrowly miss ramming into a another car. He then signals and parks in this parking lot, I got out of my car, walked over to his window and when I saw that it looked like he was having a seizure I had to break his window because I didn't have a key and I got him out, put his head on my vest and I called you guys" Nick told them.

Greg was loaded onto the gurney and wheeled towards the back of the waiting ambulance.

"Has this ever happened before?" asked the male paramedic as Greg was lifted into the ambulance and positioned in the middle of the equipment in the back.

"No, as far I as know at least. Is he going to be okay?" Nick asked concerned.

"We wont know for sure until we get him to a hospital but from the looks of it he should be fine" the female paramedic replied.

"Are you going to ride with us or going to meet us at the hospital?" asked the female paramedic.

"I'll just ride with you guys" Nick climbed into the ambulance and the doors were closed. The ambulance took off and headed towards the hospital.

They arrived at the hospital where doctors and nurses were waiting for them in the emergency parking spot.

Greg was lifted out of the ambulance and wheeled into the hospital while doctors were shouting orders at nurses. Nick followed for as far as he could before he was stopped by a nurse who said he would have to wait in the waiting room, Nick was reluctant to leave Greg but begrudgingly agreed and walked into the crowded waiting room and sat down.

He looked around the waiting room at all the grieving and worrying people, some of the people were family members and loved ones who had received news that a loved one had passed; others were people who were anxiously awaiting news on someone while praying they would not receive the same heart breaking news.

After a few minutes his cell went off and he jumped in surprise. He fished through his pockets until he found the offending object and saw that it was Grissom. He remembered that he hadn't informed Griss of what was going on.

"Stokes"

"Nick where are you and Greg? You should have been back by now" Grissom said as he played with one of his beetles.

"We're at the hospital. Greg had some kind of seizure I think. The doctors aren't telling me much" Nick replied worriedly running a hand through his short brown hair.

"A seizure? How long has it been since you last saw Greg?" Grissom stopped playing with his beetle and rose from his chair.

"About…" Nick looked at his watch.

"Fifteen minutes. Hang on a sec I think a doctor is coming over here' a doctor who was carrying a personal affects bag walked over to Nick.

"Are you Nicholas Stokes?" he asked.

"Yes, how's Greg doing doc?" Nick asked, still having the phone on so Grissom could hear.

"My name is Dr. Fellows and if you would follow me Mr. Stokes there's a few things I would like to talk to you in private about and I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to turn your phone off. Hospital policies" the doctor requested.

Nick brought the phone back to his ear. "I'm going to have to call you back Griss the doc wants to talk to me in private" Nick said.

"No need I'll meet you at the hospital. Find out everything you can about Greg's condition and report back to me. I'll see you in a bit" Grissom hung up the phone and walked out of his office.

Nick hung up the phone and turned to the doctor. "What's going on with Greg doc?" he asked.

"Please follow me and I'll explain everything" the doctor turned and Nick followed him down the hallway and Dr. Fellows began to speak.

"When Greg was brought in he was experiencing a severe seizure. We went through his records and found that he has never experienced or been treated for seizures before so we searched his clothing to see if he was using-" Nick stopped him.

"Using? You mean like drugs?" Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing. Greg couldn't be using, he was too smart to do something like that.

"Yes and I'm afraid we did find three unmarked syringes in his pants pocket. Mr. Sanders' 'seizure' could possibly be a sign of an overdose because it is not unheard of for an overdose to appear to be the result of something else. We took some blood samples and are currently doing a blood analysis to look for any sings of drugs in his systems and I thought you should be aware that Mr. Sanders had bruising along his back, very distinct injection marks in his neck from where we suspect he injected the unknown drug into his system and he also had a small head wound on the back of his head" Dr. Fellows informed the CSI.

"Can I see him?" Nick asked, still in a daze from what he had just heard.

"Of course I should warn you though that his uncontrollable shaking wouldn't go away so we were forced to strap him down for our safety as well as his own" Dr. Fellows warned as he led Nick down the hall towards Greg's room.

As they walked down the hall all Nick could think about was that Greg was using drugs. Why would he do this to himself? He had so much going for him and yet he was throwing it away by shooting up with drugs. How long had this been going on? Days? Weeks? Months? Hell years?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize they were standing in front of Greg's door and it wasn't until Dr. Fellows put his hand on his shoulder and spoke.

"If you need anything just page a nurse and she or he will do whatever they can to help" he opened the door and Nick stepped inside, looked across the room and saw…


	5. Chapter 5

**~Five Minutes Earlier~**

Greg woke up on a not very soft but also not very rough surface. The light that floated above him blinded him so he squeezed his eyes shut but the light was able to seep through his closed eyelids. When he made an attempt to shield his eyes from the harsh light with his hand he found he could not move them by some unknown source.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his hands to discover that they were strapped down and on further inspection he discovered that his legs and torso were also strapped down. Why am I bound and where in the world am I?

His questions were soon answered when he saw that his body was slightly trembling. Okay so that explained the restraints but where was he? He looked around the room and saw that there were two hospital chairs positioned next to the bed and there were several machines you normally found in a hospital and he also noted that he was hooked up to a heart monitor. What really gave away his current location, if the hospital machines weren't enough he saw that he had a bracelet around his right wrist that had his first and last name, blood type, some general information like his birthday and the name of the hospital: Mercy General. So he was in a hospital that's just great!

"This would be your third trip to the hospital this year, am I right?" Greg turned to the voice and was not surprised when he saw Sean and Toby occupying the chairs that not seconds ago had been empty.

Greg looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

"What do you want now?" Greg asked tiredly, just wanting to be left alone.

"Your father wishes for you to be brought back to the sanctum to finish the stabilizing process" Toby got up from his chair and started un-strapping the restraints.

"My 'father' can go to hell for all I care fore there is no that I am going back there" Greg protested.

"Do I need to remind you of a certain Texan and the consequences if you do not do as you are told" Sean said, rising from his chair.

"That's the only threat you have against me and as soon as I know that I can keep Nick safe I am going to do everything in my power to stop you from hurting anyone else" Greg stated.

"And who exactly have we hurt Greg hmm Tina? Tina was going to be murdered by her husband in a much more gruesome way. You could see it in the way he looked at her. What was once a look of undying love turned into a never ending vast of hatred, we did her a favor by making her death fast and almost completely painless" Sean told him.

"You had no right to murder her though so what if she was going to tell the world about shifting? Maybe it would have been for the best that your secret world was no longer a secret. Maybe the knowledge can help people," Greg reasoned.

Sean and Toby looked at him like he was the biggest idiot in the world.

"If shifting were to become public every shifter in the world would be hunted down like wild animals and experimented to find out how our genetic make up looks and trust me the way they'll collect that information will be even more painful then the stabilizing of his shifting gene" speaking of the shifting gene Greg's body suddenly reminded him that he was still in aching pain and mildly shaking.

That problem was soon fixed when Greg felt the familiar sting of the needle entering his neck and he found himself actually happy that he had been injected with something. A few moments later the pain subsided and he exhaled in relief.

"Time to go Greg"

For some reason, when Sean said that he felt like the Grim Reaper had come to collect his soul and bring him to his final destination.

Greg rose from the bed and looked at Toby who was waiting by the window.

"I'd like to be conscious for this trip" he informed as he walked over to the window.

"We can allow that"

Toby unlocked the window and pushed it open to let the humid air of Las Vegas in.

"Take care of the camera Toby, we can't have anyone see how we entered" Toby nodded and walked out of the room to retrieve the video from the security room.

Greg peered out the window and looked down at the tiny sidewalk and the ant sized people below. In reality he was only five stories up but to him it felt more like a hundred stories up. Secret fact about Greg: he was absolutely terrified of heights.

Sean laughed at Greg's obvious fright and patted him on the back.

"Nothing to worry about kid. All you have to do is climb out the window and land on the grass below the rest of the guys will pick us up. It's as easy as that" Sean assured him.

Without turning Greg asked. "How long will I be gone?"

Not missing a beat Sean replied. "However long it takes"

Toby returned to the room with a tape in hand and handed it to Sean who pocketed it.

Toby moved to the window and swung one leg over the edge of the windowsill.

"When you get down there inform the boss that we have safely collected the package" Toby nodded and jumped out the window.

"After you"

Greg turned back to the window and copying Toby's moves, swung his leg over the windowsill and jumped out. His eyes were closed the entire five seconds and thanked God that he was dressed in hospital scrubs instead of a gown.

When he made contact with a ground he stumbled and fell to his knees in front of a set of legs dressed in black denim. He looked up and was met with the emotionless face of Toby.

A thump sounded next to Greg and he looked up beside him to see Sean smirking.

"There are much more interesting things to see than the ground" he leaned down and offered Greg his hand.

He eyed the hand suspiciously before hesitantly taking it and being helped up from the ground.

"We have to get out of here before people realize your gone…and get you some clean clothes" Greg looked down at his clothes and saw that there grass stains on his knees and pant legs.

A van pulled up beside them, seeming to appear out of nowhere. The door to the van opened and Greg watched as Sean and Toby got inside.

"Come on Greg" Sean urged, wanting to get out of the vicinity of the hospital as soon as possible.

Greg climbed into the van and Toby pulled the door close behind him. He looked around at the new faces around him and saw that there were three new faces, all of which looked to be older then him. The van took off without warning causing him to skid across the floor and into the other side of the van.

~Five minutes later~

…Nothing. The bed was empty and the straps that were supposed to be holding Greg down were hanging uselessly on the side of the floor. He noticed a slight breeze enter the room and looked over at the window to see that it was open.

Nick whipped out of the room and rushed down the hall to catch up with Dr. Fellows who was talking with a nurse.

"He's not in that room. Are you sure you showed me the right room?" Nick prayed the doctor had made a mistake not only on the room but the drugs as well because Greg's sudden disappearance with the new knowledge of drug made the situation worse.

"He's escaped? Oh this is not good at all" Dr. Fellows dismissed the nurse and Nick followed the doctor back down the hall to Greg's room. The doctor stood outside the room and turned to Nick.

"Your going to want to alert your team I'll have security bring you tapes for this room and any other tapes you might need. You have my entire staff's complete cooperation," Dr. Fellows said in a calm manner.

Sadly this was not the first time a patient had escaped nor would it be the last. They had tried every method to insure the patients stayed put but somehow they always found a way to escape. This was the first time a patient had been insane enough to jump out the window from the fifth floor.

Nick thanked the doctor and took out his cell phone to speed dial Grissom while the doctor went about getting the security tape.

Grissom picked up on the second ring.

"Grissom"

"Griss' we have a problem. Greg's managed to escape from the hospital," Nick informed him.

A nurse scolded him as he walked by with the medicine table. Nick ignored her and continued speaking to Grissom.

"Get the-" Grissom started.

"I'm all ready on that. Greg's doctor is getting the security guards to bring the tape to Greg's room and he said if we need anything else to just ask" Nick said, knowing ahead what Grissom would want.

Nick was hesitant on telling Griss' about the possible drugs that was discovered in Greg's pocket and could currently be in his bloodstream. If he told Grissom Greg could lose his job and he would probably be put behind bars on drug charges.

Grissom could tell by Nick's silence that something was wrong or he had been cut off.

"Nick? Are you still there?" Grissom asked concerned.

"Yeah sorry, look Griss' there's something you need to know…um…the doctors think Greg might…" he didn't know how to tell Grissom the eye popping news when he was still recovering from the shock.

"Just say what you need to say Nick, take your time"

Nick took a moment to collect himself before continuing.

"They think what happened to Greg was a drug overdose. They found some shots in his pocket. They're doing some tests now to figure out what was in the shots along with a blood sample to see if there are any drugs in his system" Nick walked over to a chair conviently placed in the hallway and sat down, massaging his temple.

"Stay at the hospital Nick I'm on my way" Grissom ordered as he grabbed his car keys and headed out of the lab.

"Wouldn't dream of leaving Griss, see you in a bit" Nick ended the call and re-pocketed the phone.

He rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes, taking a moment to collect his thoughts.

Greg was gone and he had no clue as to where he was. That knowledge made him want to get down on his knees and pray to god to give him a clue to Greg's location.

Nick opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling.

"Where are you Greg?"


	6. Chapter 6

Greg, Sean, Toby and the other three people entered what Greg now saw to be a warehouse. To be honest Greg was not expecting this. He had been more prepared for an abandoned apartment building or even a pounding nightclub but instead he was met with this: a regular old abandoned warehouse.

Sean noticed Greg's slightly disappointed look and shook his head.

"We couldn't find an underground layer that was cheap enough and had the right accommodations like a secret passage through the sewers and our own signal beacon" all of the guys laughed at Sean's joke.

"Sorry I just thought your 'sanctum' would be a little more sanctumy" Greg replied, embarrassed at the joke at his own expense.

"Don't worry the inside will probably be more to your liking" Sean swung his arm around Greg's shoulder in a friend like manner but Greg couldn't help but feel it was more to keep sure that he couldn't run off.

They walked over to the door and just as Sean was about to open the door it opened on its own and revealed a woman in her early twenties wearing black skinny jeans, a light blue tank top and black CONVERES.

"You guys are late" she said in a snippy tone with her hands on her hips.

"We know but Greg had a little trouble taking our exit out of the hospital" Sean explained.

The woman shook her head and gestured the men inside. Once they were inside she double bolted and locked the door then punched in a security code.

"He's waiting in his office and I would advise hurrying, you know how he gets when he's kept waiting" she walked off and she strutted away she took her time checking Greg out and she must have found something she liked because she shook her head and said

"Shame you don't bat for my team"

Greg stood with his mouth agape and watched the girl walk off until he could no longer see her.

"That's Kory and even if you were straight you wouldn't stand a chance, she flirts with everyone" Sean tapped Greg's mouth closed and Greg looked away from where Kory once stood and turned to Sean.

"Even if I was straight, as you so delicately put it, she wouldn't really do anything for me because I can tell straight off that that girl is a bitch and I do not date bitches" Greg informed him with a smile plastered on his face.

After a few seconds of silence Sean spoke again.

"Francis, Milo, Josh you can all go back to doing your respective jobs. Toby and I will escort Greg to the boss' office" the three men walked off and Greg found himself being steered over to an old metal staircase

As Greg was led up the stairs he took the time to look below and check out what the inside of the 'sanctum' looked like. From what he could see there was a mat area where people could workout and by the looks of an arena.

Two men were circling each other while a small group of three people were circled around the mat cheering the men. There was also a computer area where people were stationed at computers working feverishly. But what really caught his eye was the shooting range. Men and one or two woman were putting artillery together and shooting at a target in an expert manner.

"You'll start your training as soon as your gene is stabilized" Sean informed him.

"Training? What training?" asked Greg, looking away from the bustling going on downstairs.

"Of course, in order to survive in our world your going to have to know how to defend yourself, especially when you may not have time to use your power" Sean replied.

When they reached a door that Greg presumed lead into his father's office he Sean knocked on the door and Greg heard his father tell them to come in.

Greg, Sean and Toby entered the office and he took a moment to look around the office. There was a lone filing cabinet pressed up against the far right wall, a ruby colored rug that disturbingly reminded him of blood, a big picture of the California sunset that was hanging on the wall and seated behind a sleek mahogany desk in a leather armchair was his father wearing a crisp business suit.

"Take a seat son" George said, gesturing to one of the two chairs in front of his desk. Greg walk over tot eh closest chair and sat down.

"You can leave now Sean, Toby, we will discuss your tardiness later. I wish to speak to Greg in private" Sean and Toby reluctantly left and closed the door behind them.

"I know you haven't been here that long but what do you think of the sanctum?" George asked, clasping his hands together on his desk.

"From what I've seen it looks like some kind of training facility. Sean told me that when my gene was stabilized my training would began, he explained to me that if I wanted to survive in this world I would need to know how to defend myself in case I can't shift. What kind of world have I entered dad? I know you guys have murdered but what else are you involved in?" Greg asked, dying for answers.

"I guess you could call this a training facility for shifters. Shifters have very many enemies, mainly government. If the government were to get a hold of one of us we want to ensure that we are able to defend ourselves if we are unable to use our gifts" George explained.

For some reason Greg felt the need to ask a question that had been nagging at him for a long time.

"What proof do you have that Tina was the mole? So far the only evidence I've seen has been a wall painted with numbers and that could have been planted" Greg stopped talking and he sat in shock that he had so willingly given up confidential case information.

"Ah I should have warned you, shifting is not the only ability I have acquired. A miniscule amount of shifters have developed other abilities. Mine for instance is what you may call mind manipulation" and to demonstrate he put on a concentration face.

Greg suddenly felt a pressure building up in his head he gripped the edges of his chair until his knuckles turned white. His head felt like someone was playing tug-a-war with his brain.

"What are you doing?" Greg asked through gritted teeth, with a pain-laced voice.

"Reaching into your memories to see what you saw" Greg calmly explained as if he wasn't turning Greg's brain into mush.

The pain increased due to George digging even deeper into his memories. While George was doing this Greg could actually say he saw his life flashing before his eyes. Memories of him growing up, graduation from college, first day at the crime lab and finally the day he met Nick and felt love at first sight.

He could feel the blood dribbling down his lips and chin from his nose that had begun to bleed.

"Almost there" George muttered.

The images began to slow down until it stopped on a memory that Greg was surprised had been buried so deep. The memory was of the inside of Tina's apartment, but more importantly it was the numbers on the wall that George was currently observing.

"Looks like Tina's been very busy, I'm surprised we didn't find this" George said to himself.

Greg slumped down in his chair and dabbed at his nose with his hand, breathing heavily. George noticed the blood on Greg's hand and face and pushed a box of tissues over to him.

"My ability has been known to cause nose bleeds and headaches from the intrusion my prying does" Greg wanted to snatch a few tissues out of the box but his father's intrusion into his brain prevented him from doing so.

George kept track of the evidence his son and Nick had taken and just as he was about to release Greg from his control another memory came to the front of Greg's mind. It was the moment after Nick had accidentally ripped Greg's sleeve off and revealed his shifter tattoo. It was then that Greg was finally released from his father's hold.

As soon as Greg felt the pressure from his head leave he breathed in relief and leaned forward to grab a handful of tissues. He wiped the blood off his chin and hand then pressed the tissue against his nose to stop the blood flow.

"Damn it dad! What the hell was that for?" Greg grunted.

"We're going to have to retrieve the evidence that you and Nick collected. We can't afford for them to find anything that will lead them to us" George said.

Greg lowered the tissues and looked at his father in confusion.

"You mean your going to steal them? They have top of the line security system not to mention there's hardly a time when someone isn't at the lab," Greg informed him, hoping his father would see how dumb his plan was.

"I'm surprised you didn't mention that it was a crime, seems you've finally accepted your new life" George applauded his son.

"I haven't accepted it, nor will I ever I just don't want you or any of your men to do this" George rose from his chair and walked over to stand next to Greg.

"No will get caught if that's what your worried about because we have you now" George said with a gleam in his eyes.

Greg went through a millisecond of confusion before he realized why his father was so at ease with is plan.

"You know where all the security surveillances are so you can tell us where they are and we'll either avoid them or disable them," George said excitedly.

Greg wanted to lie and tell him he had no clue where the surveillances were or how it worked but he knew that his dad would see through the lie. He had been there the day the new security system had been installed and Archie was practically drooling over the new advanced technology. Telling Greg in great detail of how it all worked and functioned. He had surprisingly been able to remember all that was told to him.

"Even if I could get you in there and past security there's still the problem of nightshift/dayshift being there and its most likely that the evidence had all ready been processed" Greg took the tissues away from his nose when he noticed his nose was no longer bleeding and threw the tissues away.

His father leaned over his desk and picked up a pad of paper and pen then handed the items to Greg.

"Write down all your team members nightly schedules, that way we'll be able to avoid them" George explained.

"What about dayshift? Greg asked, still unsure.

"They're dayshift Gregory meaning that they're shifts don't start until DAYTIME and we are going to be going at night so I don't think we'll have to worry about them" Said George confidentially as he sat back down in his chair.

Greg licked his dry lips, looked down at the paper then back at his father.

"But if you have the ability to control minds why don't you use your ability to have one of the people working at the lab to just give you the evidence" Greg questioned.

George looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head.

"That is a very good idea but I'm afraid I can only do so much. I am still fairly new to new this ability so I have not yet gone that extent otherwise I would" George replied.

Greg reluctantly picked up the pen and hesitated on whether or not to lie about the team's times but thought better of it and wrote down the correct times. When the times were written down he had handed the pen and paper back to his father and sat back in his chair.

"So when is this thing going down?" Greg asked curiously although still a little uneasy that his father and him were talking about robbing his own work place.

"Tonight"

"Tonight?! You only just found out about all the security systems how could we possibly pull this off tonight?" Greg protested.

"We don't have a choice Gregory as you said before they may have all ready processed the evidence and if that is the case we have to get the evidence away from them so that they can't link it back to us" George stood up from his chair and walked over to the door. He opened the door and standing on the other side was Sean and Korey.

"Take Greg to his room and give him some new clothes. I want him to be as comfortable as possible during his stay" George instructed.

Greg stood up from his chair and walked to the door, before he left the room he turned to his father.

"I just want you to know that I don't agree with anything that your doing and that as soon as the opportunity comes I'm going to stop you" he told him with nothing but dead seriousness in his voice and face.

"I would expect nothing less. I will talk to you later son" George walked back to his desk and sat down.

Korey grabbed Greg's arm and led him out of the room. Sean closed the door quietly behind them and they descended the stairs.

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to update but I've had a lot on my plate lately. Next chapter will have a panicked group of CSI'S we all know and love and a very pissed off and frightened Nick. Review if you want more!**


	7. Chapter 7

Have to thank my new BETA Holly for this chapter. Thanks for pulling through for me!

~Hospital~

Police officers and the CSI nightshift were stationed at the hospital talking to staff, and people who were there at the time of Greg's escape. So far, they had nothing, which not only pissed the police officers off but really, really pissed off the CSI'S. No one was more angry then Nick though.

"How the hell can a patient escape and manage to take the security tape to his room? What kind of hospital is this?" Nick roared at a shocked security officer, who was trembling in fear from the overwhelming presence of an angry Texan.

Warrick, Nick's best friend had been watching Nick's interrogation from across the room and when he saw that Nick looked like he was about to start throttling the guard he quickly hurried across the room, managing to drag Nick away from the trembling guard, who looked like he was about to pee his pants.

"I know your pissed and worried man, we all are, but you can't just scare the staff to death and expect answers. You have to follow protocol, and if you're not careful man Griss is going to take you off the case. Hell if I was in charge I would! You're too emotionally involved in this one." Warrick said in a hushed, but still stern voice wanting to make sure that Nick got the point, but not wanting anyone to overhear.

"I can't take this man. Greg is out there somewhere and we have no fucking idea where! He could be dying on the streets right now and we would have no clue! I can't just stand here and do nothing." Nick ran a hand through his cropped brown hair, and tried to even out his breathing, which was proving to be impossible as he was too worked up.

Warrick knew that Nick would be royally pissed, but he wasn't expecting his anger or worry like this. When the rest of the CSI'S had been told that Greg had managed to escape from the hospital and had taken the security tape to his room, they had been pissed, but when they had also been informed that Greg's doctor suspected Greg had been using drugs, their anger had turned to worry.

No one would have guessed the youngest CSI did drugs. Sure he was always hyperactive and loved listening to music at volumes any normal person would have gone deaf, but they always passed it off as; too much caffeine and not being able to get rid of the energy as a young kid, because of an overprotective mother. But never in a million years would they have ever suspected drugs.

Grissom had noticed Nick's giant outburst so when he was finished talking to the head of security he walked over to Warrick and Nick.

"I just spoke to the head of security and they told me that apparently the guard, who was supposed to be watching the security room, had in fact been flirting with one of the nurses. That officer no longer has a job, I may add. He also told me that for every security tape that they have, they also have a copy for security reasons." Grissom grinned at the end. Upon hearing this news, Nick and Warrick were also grinning. Something was finally going their way!

"Sarah is gathering all the tapes as we speak, so once she has them we'll take all our collected evidence we have and go back to the lab to watch the tapes." Grissom informed them.

Sarah appeared a few moments later with a box filled with security tapes. The team looked at her wide-eyed.

"I got all of the security tapes for any of the possible places Greg might have passed or been in." She explained.

"All right then, lets go back to the lab and get to work," Grissom ordered.

~Greg's room~

Greg's room had all the normal necessities one would need to survive, except a window and any real feeling of all of there being life in there.

He sat down on the bed, which looked like it had been stolen from a hobo, with its moth eaten blanket, flattened pillow and a mattress that looked like a dog had gotten a hold of it and used it as a chew toy. Yeah, his dad really loved him, he thought sarcastically.

Before he had been pushed into his room, Korey had handed him some clean street clothes that consisted of a pair of faded blue jeans, a plain blue t-shirt, some socks and some ordinary running shoes.

After changing into his new clothes he had decided to look around. He discovered that he had a bathroom, which looked slightly more welcoming then the bed that lay in the corner. The bathroom had a sink, mirror that opened up into a medicine cabinet that contained a toothbrush, mouthwash and COLGATE toothpaste. In the corner of the bathroom was a shower stall, with a toilet sat beside it.

The floor of the bathroom was tiled with a checkerboard theme, and he couldn't help but feel more work had been put into the bathroom then the actual sleeping area, for whatever reason that made him feel a little uneasy.

While he lay on his rather uncomfortable bed, he looked up at the ceiling and decided that since he didn't have any other means of entertainment; he would count the ceiling tiles. When he became bored of counting in English he moved on to counting in Norwegian.

Just as he was getting to the thousands the door to his room opened. He looked at the door and saw that it Korey. Not really feeling like getting into conversation he looked back up at the ceiling and went back to counting, but was soon interrupted when he heard a scraping sound coming towards him. He looked back at the door and saw Korey dragging a metal chair towards his bed.

"What do you want now Korey? I'm a little busy at the moment and I don't really feel like conversing." Greg said, not trying to hide his annoyance at all. He wanted her to just go away and leave him alone.

That was obviously not going to happen, because he heard the creaking of the chair and she stood up on it. His eyes widened when he saw her face covering half of the tiles he was currently counting.

When he had finally had enough of her staring, and way past his personal space he exploded.

"What!" He exclaimed.

Korey calmly lowered herself back into her chair and crossed her legs.

"Just trying to see the resemblance." She shrugged her shoulders and put on what he assumed was her thinking face, which was to scrounge up her forehead and put her lips in a frown.

"Did you find any?" Greg asked.

"Yes as a matter a fact I did. You both have the same sandy blond hair, lip shape, eye color and you both have extremely large quantities of personal space and you will blow a gasket if anyone crosses through the thresh hold of said space." She concluded.

Greg looked at her flabbergasted, having no idea what to say to that other then…

"Thanks…I think." He finally replied.

"Your welcome!" She cheerfully replied, standing up from her chair.

What was this chick bi-polar? When he first came here Korey had come off as a total bitch, but now it felt like Greg was talking to his female counterpart, only this one seemed a little more hyped up on sugar and had a tendency to get in other people's personal space.

A few minutes went by and when Korey made no notion of leaving soon, he asked her if there was anything else Korey wanted.

"Actually, I'm here to give you this." She reached into her pocket and took out another shot similar to the one Greg was already receiving, but this one had a purple greenish fluid in it.

This gave her Greg's complete attention.

"What is it with you guys and shots?" He exclaimed, sitting up in bed.

"Sorry Greg, I know they're getting tiresome, but I'm afraid when you wake your going to wish you were receiving another shot." Before Greg could question what she meant, she plunged the shot into his neck. Unable to keep the cry of pain in, Greg jerked his head away, which only resulted in him banging his head against the wall and giving himself a headache.

The drug he had been given was strong, that he was sure of. His vision started to swim and his headache went away, replacing it with a lightheadedness feeling.

"Just lay back Greg, wouldn't want you getting hurt before we even start." Greg could faintly hear Korey say.

He subconsciously did just that, and laid his head down on the now very comfortable pillow. Right before he passed out he saw the blurry images of two more people standing over him.

~Archie's AV lab~

They had gone through over six hours of security footage and still had nothing. After watching the footage of Greg's room about six times and finding nothing they gave up and started looking at the other footage.

It was when they had finished watching the last tape that Nick snapped.

"How the hell can there be absolutely no sign of him? I mean come on he couldn't have just vanished into thin air! It just doesn't make sense." In a fit of rage Nick grabbed hold of Archie's BATTLESTAR GALATICA coffee mug and hurled it across the room, where it smashed into hundreds of tiny pieces as it made contact with the wall.

Everyone was too shocked to say anything, even the great Grissom who could witness someone being shot in the head and still have something to say about it, but witnessing one of his own CSI'S going off like, just stunned him, what stunned him even more was that it was Nick Stokes.

Warrick was the first to come out of his shocked state. He firmly grabbed Nick by the upper arm, having to avoid a punch to the face by a hyped up on adrenaline Texan. Facing that problem, he was forced to compel Nick's arm behind his back and slam him up against the wall.

"You need to calm down man! Breaking things and assaulting colleagues isn't going to get Greg back any faster!" He practically growled at him, annoyed and alarmed that this was the second time he had to restrain Nick from doing something that could make him lose his job.

"If I let you go you have to promise me that you're not going to do anything stupid." Warrick compromised.

Nick pressed his forehead against the wall, breathing in heavily, taking his time to calm down before he answered his best friend.

"Okay." He relented.

Warrick released his arm and backed away from Nick. Nick backed away from the wall and turned around while rubbing his sore arm. He looked up from the floor and into the eyes of his colleagues. All of them were showing concern and worry. But the eyes he was most reluctant to meet were Grissom's. When he finally found the courage he also found the courage to speak.

"Don't take me off the case Griss. I know I'm emotionally involved, but I have to be a part of this. I have to help you find Greg and bring him back." Nick begged.

Grissom took a few steps towards Nick until he was standing in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not going to take you off the case…yet, but if you do something like this again, I will. I know Greg is a very close friend of yours, he's very important to all of us, but you can't let your emotions get the better of you." Without taking his hand off Nick's shoulder he turned to the others.

"I want you to look through the tapes again and see if we missed anything." He turned back to Nick

"You and I are going to finish this discussion in my office." He sternly told him, before taking his hand off his shoulder and walking out of the lab. Nick sighed before walking out of the room after him.

~Somewhere in the sanctum~

When Greg started to come to, his head was killing him and his vision was like looking through water.

"What the fuck did you give me?" he asked groggily.

"A serum that will possibly activate a gene in your body that will awaken an extra ability." Said a familiar voice.

"With all the crap you've thrown at me, I'm beginning to wonder if you're taking the term 'tough love' a little too far." He slowly managed to lift his neck, which felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and looked at his father, who he could just make out, was sitting in a chair in front of him.

"Yeah well, when it comes to you kid, your mother was the pushover and worrywart and I was the disciplinary one." George chuckled.

Greg's vision was becoming clearer and the weight of his neck had returned to normal, so he was able to look around the room. He realized with absolutely no humor that he was still in the room he had been assigned as his sleeping quarters.

"How do you plan on seeing if I even have a second ability?" Greg asked with a much clearer voice.

"Well I'm afraid that's the part where Toby comes in." Greg heard the door opened and looked up to see Toby entering with a paper bag.

"Let me guess. I'm about to get my ass kicked?" George hung his head guiltily then looked back up at his son.

"It's the only way to tell I'm afraid. By putting your body through stress we're hoping that it will trigger the inactive gene in you to defend yourself." George stood up from his chair and walked towards the door, but before he left he turned back to Greg.

"I'm sorry son." He said sorrowfully, before he exited the room.

Greg heard the click of the door then looked up at Toby's emotionless face and in that instant accepted the fate he was given.

"Let's get started."

Toby walked over to Greg and set his bag of goodies down on the chair, George had previously been occupying.

"So Toby, I was just wondering do you ever speak or did you have some freak accident where you had your tongue cut out?" Greg asked. When he received no answer he figured he wasn't going to get any answers out of the guy. So he remained silent.

He watched as Toby towered over him and out of nowhere Greg was knocked out of his chair by a violent punch across the face. Greg could practically feel his lips split and the blood was dribbling down his chin in a small threadlike manner.

Before Greg could get his bearings Toby lifted him up by the collar and slammed him up against the nearest wall. His beating continued from there. He received multiple punches to his back and all the while he cried out in pain, begging for Toby to stop, knowing that he wouldn't be freed from this torture.

When that did nothing Toby dragged a beaten and almost passed out Greg to the chair and sat him down in it. Greg was too tired and dazed to get back up from the chair and could only watch as Toby took out some ropes and tied Greg down with them. He then returned to the bag. Greg couldn't see what he was rooting around for until Toby turned around and he saw that he was holding knuckledusters. Greg internally groaned.

Greg could only watch as Toby slid the knuckledusters on pounded them together once to reverberate a clang through the room. Not wanting to have to watch, Greg closed his eyes and waited for the pain to come.

As expected it came as a complete surprise. A harsh metallic blow bit into his face, followed by another to his gut. Blow after blow caused a deep tingling sensation in his brain, one that was most similar to a headache.

No longer being able to hold back his cries he let loose one that could shake a house's structure. As he cried he felt as though a huge wave of power was flowing out of him.

When his screams died out he noticed that the blows had stopped coming. He opened his eyes and was amazed at what he saw, the room was a complete mess not only that, but Toby was lying on the floor unconscious from what Greg suspected was a bonk on the head from the floor. He looked around the rest of the room and saw that the chair and bag that he previously been in front of him, was now lying on the floor and the contents of the bag strewn about the room.

The door opened and George walked back into the room with a smile on his face.

"Telekinesis, wasn't expecting that." George walked around Toby's body and picked up the chair that had been thrown across the room, then sat down in the chair across from Greg.

"We're going to have to work on controlling this new ability of yours." George said.

"And the fun just keeps on coming." Greg muttered.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If u want more your going to have to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

~Inside Grissom's office~

Nick followed Grissom into his office. Grissom walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair.

"Take a seat Nick." Nick walked over to a chair and sat down across from his old mentor.

"I've become concerned Nick. From what I've seen at the hospital and now in the A/V lab it's come to my attention that you're behaving less like a friend and more like an enraged lover. Is there something going on that I should know Nick?" Grissom asked tentatively.

Nick didn't speak. He couldn't tell Grissom the truth. If he told him that he was deeply in love with Greg, he would be taken off the case and he couldn't let that happen.

Grissom sat patiently waiting for Nick to answer him. He watched Nick nervously tap his thigh with his index finger and the way he looked anywhere, but at him and the dry throat he had suddenly developed that caused his Adam's apple to bob up and down. All were telltale signs that he was nervous. Even Nick Stokes a CSI level 3 was exhibiting them like a neon beacon.

After a few minutes went by Nick finally began to speak.

"When you guys rescued me from that coffin, I was a mess. I had nightmares; Nightmares that had me screaming in the night, bawling like a baby and sweating like a pig." He began with a nervous tone in his voice.

"Then there were the tight spaces, I couldn't even enter a car without hyperventilating, but what really stayed with me; even to this day, is the scars I have from those damn ants." Nick involuntarily shivered from the memory of the ants crawling all over his body; biting at his skin like he was a nice juicy T-Bone steak.

"When they started biting me and the darkness started closing in on me, I gave up. I gave up Grissom. When you guys found me, I was a broken man ready to eat a bullet just to get away from it all." Tears sprang to Nick's eyes and his voice squeaked at the end.

He took a moment to get a hold on his emotions then continued his story. Getting to the part that really needed to be told.

"But do you want to know what stopped me? Greg's voice, not Warrick, Cath, Sara, Brass or even you. Just Greg. He stopped me with a simple word, 'don't'. He helped me through the hard times after I was found. He showed me to see past my scars, to see what they really were…survival marks. So please Grissom don't take me off this case. I need to find and save him, like he saved me." Nick pleaded.

Grissom didn't say anything for a few moments. Digesting what he had just heard. With a reluctant sigh, he looked up from his clasped hands at the CSI across from him.

"Nick I know you're going to be very upset when I tell you this, but I'm afraid I don't have a choice now. You're just too emotionally involved in this case, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you off both cases; Lothspeich's and Greg's." Grissom said, mentally preparing himself for the Texan's anger he was about to receive, but was surprised when he was met with his silence.

Nick stared down at the floor, his shoulders hunched over and his hands clasped together.

"Nick?"

Upon hearing his name, Nick looked up and Grissom could see the rage boiling behind his usual laugh filled eyes, but he could tell that Nick was holding it in.

"Don't do this Grissom, please. I need to be a part of this." There was so much pain dripping from his voice that Grissom's heart clenched. He was tempted to take back everything that he'd just said, but he couldn't risk Nick losing control again.

"I'm sorry Nick. I really am, but I can't risk you losing control again, or even accidentally contaminating evidence. I'm going to send you home and I promise we'll keep you updated on Greg's case, but I can't have you working it. That's the best I can do." Grissom apologized, hating what he was doing, but knowing it was the right thing to do.

Nick rose from his chair and stared down at Grissom. He had no words to say to him. All he could think was that this was the man who was preventing him from finding Greg.

Without a word Nick walked out of Grissom's office in a scarily calm manner, which put Grissom's nerves on edge.

Warrick was going through the tapes again with Archie, while Catherine and Sara went over the meager evidence they had collected from Greg's hospital room.

As Archie was putting another tape in, Warrick saw Nick walk by the A/V lab with a stride of determination.

"Hey Arch how 'bout you get started on these tapes again without me, I have to go check something out." Without waiting for a reply, he walked out of the room and followed the direction Nick had gone.

When Nick entered the locker room, he walked straight for his locker and instead of opening his locker he just stood in front of it, staring or more glaring at it in a weird kind of glaring contest.

Grissom's words kept going through his head like a sick mantra.

"_Off the case…off the case…off the case…"_

He growled in anger and slammed his knuckles into the metal surface of his locker. The clanging of the skin on metal contact sounded throughout the room and with each fist that made contact with the metal Nick grunted, not in pain, but from the anger he was feeling towards Grissom for taking him off the case, Greg for getting himself into trouble and for Greg taking off and finally for himself for not telling Greg how he really felt about him.

The skin on his knuckles broke and blood started to stream down his hands, smearing across the locker, but he didn't even notice, he just kept hitting away at the locker like a punching bag.

Huge fist sized dents were now mapping every space on the locker, there almost wasn't a smooth part left on it. He probably would have gone on punching it forever, if it hadn't been for two strong arms grabbing both his arms and dragging him away from his locker.

"Cool it man! Just take a breather and tell me what the fuck is going on in that thick head of yours." Nick recognized the voice as Warrick's, he lowered his arms that were still upright in a fighting position and took a few deep breaths then sat down on the bench after Warrick released him from his hold.

Warrick sat down next to his friend and waited for him to explain himself.

"Grissom took me off Greg's case, and the Lothspeich case. He said I'm too emotionally involved." Nick said with a shaky breath, still working off the adrenaline he was feeling inside of him.

Warrick shook his head, looking up at the ceiling then back at this friend.

"This is the third time I've had to physically pull you away from doing something stupid, but I guess this time I was too late. I don't think your locker's going to be working properly ever again. You need to tell me what's going through that head of yours man, because I'm starting to get concerned man." He said looking over at the destroyed locker.

"Its not fair man, we've all had personal cases before, but not one of us has ever been taken off of them. No matter the situation, but when I get a case that means the world to me, I'm always taken off. It's like Grissom is deliberately trying to keep me from finding answers that I need." Nick knew he was rambling, but he just didn't have the right words to express how he was feeling.

"You know that's bull Nick, not only about the personal cases, but about Grissom keeping answers from you on purpose. Yes we've all had personal cases before, but I can say with absolute certainty that each and every personal case we have had, we've been taken off of at least half of them. Grissom may love to send us through hoops when we're trying to find answers, but if it's something as important as this, he wouldn't keep it from you, even if he knew it would tear you apart." Warrick assured him.

He looked down at Nick's bleeding knuckles and sighed.

"Come on we should get Doc Robbins to fix those up for you. Don't want them getting infected." Warrick stood up from the bench. After a few moments Nick did as well. He was still numb to the pain, but when he looked down at the injuries he had inflicted upon something, he knew it was bad, but he didn't really seem to care.

Greg was out there somewhere and he had no idea where and now that he was off the case, he probably never would…or maybe he could.

"Yeah that's probably a good idea." Nick and Warrick walked out of the room and headed down to Doc Robbins morgue.

~Greg's room in the sanctum~

After Greg had been untied, he attempted to stand up, but his ribs were protesting the movement. He grunted in pain and eased himself back down to his original position.

"Need some help?"

Greg looked up and saw his father's offering hand. Knowing the difference between staying in the chair and actually doing something about the pain, he was confused on whether he should accept his father's help or not.

Without much choice Greg took the offered hand. His father eased him up from the chair then helped him into the bathroom, where he deposited him on the closed toilet seat.

"I'm going to run a shower for you then when you're done with your shower, Korey will be waiting in your bedroom to clean and bandage your injuries." George made sure the temperature was warm enough then turned around heading for the door, but before he left he looked back at Greg who was still sitting down.

"If you need anything else, just let me know." Greg nodded then George left, closing the door behind him.

Greg eased himself up from his modified chair and slowly made his way over to the shower. With each step he took, it felt like all the bones in his body were snapping in half. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and die.

He was relieved when he made it to the shower, but that relief was short lived when he remembered he would have to undress. If he had more clothes he would have just stepped into the shower with his clothes on, but that was not the case and he really didn't want to have to trudge around in wet clothing, so he started the painful process of getting out his clothes.

He leaned up against the wall and groaned in pain from having to bend over, but he was determined to finish, so he worked through the pain of untying his shoelaces then pulled his sneakers off along with his shoes. Shoes and socks down, now came to his shirt.

This was going to be the hardest, judging by the blinding pain emitting from his entire torso. With a moment of preparation for the pain about to come, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled the material up hissing in pain from the material of the shirt grazing over some sensitive bruising on his ribs. He managed to pull the shirt up to his chest before the pain and exertion of moving his arms and body became too much, so he was forced to release the material and let it fall back into place.

"Need some help?" Asked a familiar voice.

Greg looked to the doorway seeing Korey leaning against the doorframe with her arms folded against her chest.

Not wanting to admit defeat, he said no and once again attempted to take his shirt off.

Korey watched in mild amusement as Greg once again attempted to undress. She would have laughed, had it not been for the barely audible, but still audible gasps of pains coming from the struggling man a few feet away from her.

Contrary to what people believed she was not heartless. She wanted so much to help Greg escape from this imprisonment, but she couldn't because she was a prisoner herself.

When she had first found out she was a shifter she had refused to believe that the natural laws of science could be wrong, so she had gone on living her life. It wasn't until George had sent a group of his men, specifically the vile being known as Sean and his lackeys, to bring her into the sanctum.

What happened next while being held, told her that if she didn't do as she was told he would kill her brother Christopher. He proved he could do it too by using his ability on her.

The pain had been excruciating and while she screamed, Sean had stood in the background smiling. She knew because she could see his reflection in a picture frame of the California sunset. So here she was 6 months later and she was forced to do George's bidding or else face having to watch George kill Chris, while Sean held her struggling form with a shit eating grin on his face.

When she became bored of watching Greg struggle with his shirt, she got up from the wall and walked over to Greg. She grabbed his arms to stop him from moving.

"If you're done making a fool of yourself, let me help you with this." Without waiting for an answer she reached down and in one fluid motion, with a small gasp of pain from Greg, she managed to lift the shirt up over his head then tossed the garment onto the floor.

Greg avoided eye contact with her, instead opting to look at the floor. He was very uncomfortable standing in front of Korey half naked and it definitely wasn't due to sexual attraction, more because he felt very vulnerable in this state.

She made a move towards him with her hand, Greg involuntarily flinched away. Her hand fell back to her side and she took a step back.

"You don't have to be afraid of me Greg, I promise I'm not going to hurt you." She said like she was soothing a frightened kitten, ironically enough that's exactly what Greg resembled at that moment with his arms tucked up against his chest, his head down and his body slightly trembling.

"Yeah, why should I believe that? The last time you were this close to me, you were sticking me with a needle for a nice game of Greg ball." Greg retorted.

"Look I know I might come off as a bipolar bitch, but the truth is it's all just a mask." She began to reason with him. She figured that the only way to get Greg to trust her was to show him her own wounds, so that's what she was going to do.

She looked at Greg; by the curious expression on his face she knew she had his attention.

"When I first found out I was a shifter I denied it, I guess you could say that I wanted to live a normal life, but fate had other plans for me. I got home from work and just as I was putting my car and house keys down, Sean grabbed me from behind. I tried to fight back, but he was too strong. He dragged me over to a chair and forced me down onto it. You don't even have to guess to know that it was your father who walked out of my kitchen eating a green apple. He greeted me, next thing I know I'm seeing black. When I woke up I was in George's office and he told me that if I didn't do as I was told he would personally kill my brother. So you see, we both have people that we're fighting to keep alive by doing things we wish we didn't have to." She concluded.

Greg sighed and nervously bit his lower lip.

"Thanks for telling me that, but I think I can get undressed by myself now." He said without making eye contact with her.

She nodded her head in understanding then walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Just as she was turning around she jumped in fright as her heart skipped a beat when she suddenly saw Sean standing in front of her.

"S-Sean don't you know it's not polite to sneak up on people?" She brushed past him then walked over to the bed where the first aid kit was set up.

"So is spreading gossip." he replied.

Korey stopped what she was doing for a second, before she quickly regained her composure and went on as if his comment hadn't gotten to her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. The only gossip I've heard is that George supposedly likes to add cinnamon to his special stew that he's always talking about." She replied.

"Don't play dumb with me Korey, I know you've been poisoning Greg's mind with your little pity story. So I'm warning you now, talk to him again about the past and I will kill you." He was now standing behind her and was whispering in her ear.

Sean pulled back and smiled.

"Tell Greg when he gets out his shower to meet me in the briefing room." He said.

Korey nodded mutely then Sean walked out of the room with a skip in his stride, obviously happy about threatening another person's life.

From inside the bathroom Greg was listening in on the conversation, from the other side of the door with a puzzled expression on his face. Just what exactly was going on? Whatever it was he was going to find out.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you want more your going to have to review! Next chapter will deal with the break in into the lab and Grissom and his team find a piece of evidence that could possibly help them find Greg.**


	9. Chapter 9

~Archie's A/V lab~

Archie was going over the recovered video footages from the security cameras when he came across something that made him want to smack himself silly. He picked up his cell phone and forwarded an urgent message for Grissom, Warrick, Sara and Catherine; to come to the A/V lab immediately.

A few minutes later the requested people huddled into the A/V lab and waited for Archie to show them what he'd found.

"I went over the hospital footage again, when I suddenly remembered that we've only been checking the footage inside the hospital not around because we all assumed Greg escaped by himself, but we were wrong. Check this out." Archie turned to his keyboard and tapped away at his keys and when he found the video he was looking for, he started talking again.

"This is the video footage taken from a security camera positioned on the roof above Greg's room, around 7:17 PM. I'm going to close up on Greg's window and well…it explains itself." Archie zoomed in on Greg's window and started the video.

The nightshift watched as the window was opened and an unknown man appeared in the window seeming to look down at something, before something caught his attention inside because he clearly nodded his head at someone or something inside then moved away from the window.

"I kept the video playing to see if anyone else came to the window and soon Greg appears next to our guy, who then proceeds to lock the window and pull the window up." Archie explained.

They watched the rest of the scene unfold. The unknown man walked away from the window and another unknown man walked up beside Greg and appeared to laugh at the expression on Greg's face. The man patted Greg on the back.

The footage ended when the man who had patted Greg on the back jumped out of the window. Archie stopped the tape and turned to the CSI's behind him, who were gaping open mouthed at the footage they just watched.

"I'll keep trying to see if there is any more footage like this one, but I'm afraid to say that this is the best picture you're going to get. The camera that recorded this isn't exactly up to date on technology and when I tried getting sound, all I got was static." Archie explained.

"Good work Archie." Grissom turned to the remaining members of the nightshift crew and started handing out assignments. "Warrick, Sara-I want you to go back to the hospital and talk to the staff again, see if they remember seeing these two men entering Greg's room." as if Archie had read his mind he was already printing out two close-ups of the two men's faces from the footage. The pictures were kind of blurry, but they were still clear enough for someone to possibly remember seeing them. Archie handed the photos over to Sara and Warrick. "And I also want you to get the results from Dr. Fellows on the analysis of the drug found in Greg's pocket, along with his DNA sample." Grissom finished.

Sara and Warrick walked out of the lab with their assignments.

Grissom turned to Catherine. "Catherine, I need you to keep working on the Lothspeich case." Catherine was about to protest but he cut her off. "I know you want to help Greg, but with Nick gone we are going to need to work twice as hard to solve these cases and I really don't want to have to hand them over to Ecklie because he thinks we're too emotionally involved. So I need you to go through all the evidence we currently have on her case and call me if you find anything."

"And what will you be doing?" She asked, before she turned for the door.

"I'm going over to Greg's apartment, see if I can find any evidence that can help us find him." Grissom walked out of the lab and headed for the parking garage.

Catherine turned to Archie about to say something but Archie beat her to it.

"I'll tell you if I find anything new." He assured her with a smile. Catherine thanked him and headed out of the lab for the evidence room.

~Briefing room of the Sanctum~

After Greg's injuries had been attended to by Korey she told him to meet Sean in the briefing room that was on the left of his father's office. He was at first a little lost when he was walking through the warehouse, but soon found his way when he came across the shooting range. Not really liking the sound of guns going off and bullets making impact into the targets, he hurried away from the noises and quickly escaped over to the staircase and ascended the stairs.

He walked past his father's office and paused outside the briefing room hearing a conversation going on that raised a lot of red flags. That voice belonged to none of other than Sean and from what he had heard so far, whomever Sean was talking to sounded like another boss.

"I told you I would take care of it and I did…no they don't suspect anything. George still thinks he's taken care of the problem…yes sir, I'm going to get rid of the rest of the evidence tonight…understood sir." The conversation seemed to have ended, but just in case he delayed his entrance for a few more minutes and glad because what heard next shed some more light onto the situation.

"Tina just couldn't keep her mouth shut!"

Greg stood rooted to the spot, shocked at what he had just heard. The pieces were slowly starting to come together. He was still a little confused of course, but now he could see that Sean was the reason Tina was dead and he suspected that Tina either hadn't been the only rat or she wasn't the rat to begin with, but in reality it was Sean. He needed to look more into this.

Knowing that Sean would come looking for him if he didn't go in soon, he grasped the handle and turned.

~A few hours earlier outside Nick's apartment~

Nick parked his truck in his building's parking lot and turned the ignition off. Instead of immediately getting out he sat in his truck staring out through the windshield with a faraway glazed look in his eyes.

All he could think about since leaving the Crime Lab building was how he was going to find Greg, even if he was technically 'off the case'. He could weasel information out of Warrick and investigate any leads they might have, but he didn't want his friend to get in trouble and there was also the possibility of him doing more harm than good.

He knew that he was too emotionally involved to be working Greg's case and yes Grissom had even assured him that he would still be in the loop, should anything important come up, but somehow that still wasn't comforting. He wanted to be a part of the action. He wanted to be the one who brought Greg home.

After a few more minutes of self-moping he finally got out of the car and headed for his apartment building. Unbeknownst to Nick he was being watched.

A man in a familiar black van was stationed a little ways across the street with a camera aimed directly at him and his apartment building. The man zoomed in on Nick as he got out of his truck and took some close up pictures of him walking towards his apartment building and for the final money shot he zoomed in on his face when it was in the right angle and took the shot.

The man smiled and turned to his companion who had a smile of his own.

"Did you get the other shots?" He asked him.

His companion nodded and retrieved the photos from a manila envelope. The pictures were of the inside of Nick's apartment and there was even one of Nick sleeping on his couch.

"Oh yeah, he's going to love these." The man commended.

~Back at the sanctum~

Hearing the door open Sean turned around and saw Greg standing in the door. "Glad you could finally join me Greg, I trust Korey tended to you injuries?" Sean asked conversationally.

"Yeah, she did. No matter how many times I told her that I could take care of them myself." Greg looked around the room and saw a metal table that seated six and a blown up picture of the Crime Lab pinned up on the wall. But he also noted that no one else was in the room.

"Where's everyone else?"

Sean walked towards Greg then sat down on the edge of the table in front of him.

"The rest of the guys are down in the locker room getting suited up. They've all ready been briefed. Toby isn't going to be joining us tonight though, because he's currently lying unconscious in his bed. I got to say man I'm impressed, not too many people have been able to hurt him that bad." Sean praised.

Greg didn't know if he should be pleased or unnerved at hearing that. He made Toby sound like some kind of fighting machine and if you saw him you would agree.

"That power you have is pretty powerful and could be used for a lot things…like tonight." Sean said.

"What? I can't control it yet Sean! I could seriously hurt someone if I'm not careful." From the glint in Sean's eye Greg knew that that was his intention. "I'm not going to hurt anyone and I'm especially not going to stand by and let you." Greg exclaimed.

Sean stood up from the table and in a flash lashed out, yanked Greg up by his throat, whipped around and slammed him down on the table. Greg cried out in pain from the abuse to his injuries.

"You know I'm getting real tired of you not following orders, so I've come up with a little presentation that is sure to make you see things my way. I know you've heard this threat before, but I figured it was time for some visual aid." Sean reached into his back pocket and took out some folded up papers. He unfolded one by one, showing them to Greg. Greg's eyes widened as he scanned across the pictures of Nick, ranging from getting out of his truck to entering his apartment, but what really freaked Greg out was the picture of Nick asleep on his couch.

"I am fully capable of killing your precious Nick and I will do so without hesitation if you don't start doing as you are told. I swear to god I will personally be the one to take the life out Nicholas Stokes." Sean released his grip on Greg and turned away from him while Greg gasped in precious air that had previously been denied to him. When his breathing was under control, he rose up from the table and leant against it, staring down at the photos.

For a few minutes nothing was said. All that could be heard in the room was the humming of the air vents, chatter from downstairs and their own breathing.

After a few choppy breaths, Greg finally spoke up. "You said you wanted to brief me on tonight's plan, so start briefing." Sean turned to face Greg and his expression became serious.

"Sit down; we have a lot to discuss before you're ready for tonight."

~Crime Lab Briefing Room~

Most of nightshift sat around the table waiting for Grissom to arrive to discuss what they had found on Greg's case. Catherine had also joined them to discuss some of the evidence she had discovered from her own case.

Grissom finally walked through the door, carrying a paper bag while closing the door behind him. He walked over to the head of the table and through his facial expressions he told them that he was ready to hear what they had found.

"Sara and I went down to the hospital and talked to a few of the staff members again and when we showed them the photos, they said that they did remember seeing them enter Greg's room, but thought that it wasn't relevant to the case, so they didn't say anything. But what's really important is that many of the staff remembers seeing identical tattoos on the two men's forearms, so I had a sketch artist come down and they all described the same tattoo." Warrick opened a manila envelope and produced a sketching of the tattoo.

"That's the same tattoo that we found on Tina Lothspeich." Catherine pointed out, remembering the photo she had seen in her own evidence.

"Yep, when we showed the tattoo to Dr. Fellows he said that he remembered seeing that exact tattoo on Greg's forearm, so somehow these two men and Greg could possibly be connected with Tina." Sara finished.

Grissom sighed and planted his hands on the table, holding all his weight up with his arms. He turned to Catherine and she took out the pieces of evidence she had found.

"After going through Tina's phone records I discovered that she had been talking with someone quite frequently for the past three months, almost all of the phone records are to this same person, who she called and received calls from at least three times a day. I'm having Archie track down the owner of this number as we speak, so hopefully we might get a lead out of this. Other than that, that's all I have." Catherine said tiredly.

Grissom noticed the tired expressions on all his CSI's faces and came to a decision.

"I went to Greg's apartment and looked through his things and I found this." he placed the bag on the table and pulled out a shot that was filled to the brim with a clear fluid.

"The hospital faxed over the results and it turns out that what we thought was a drug, is actually antibodies, but for what we don't know, but whatever the reason Greg seems to be taking a lot of it because this entire bag is filled with them." He dumped the bag out and the shots skittered across the table. "I've already gone over each of these shots and I couldn't find a single good fingerprint, it's almost like the people who made these shots were wearing extra thick gloves." Grissom added.

"So we still have nothing?" Sara summed up with a disappointed frown on her face.

"Not quite, we have a definite description of the men who helped Greg escape and a possible tie with the Lothspeich case." Grissom looked at the people in front of him and saw that they were all fighting to keep their eyes open, which was becoming a losing battle with the way they had to hold their heads up with the hands.

"Okay everyone you did a good job, but I think its time that we all head home and get some sleep." No one truly wanted to go home while Greg was still out there along with the new developments in the case, but they were dead on their feet and they knew they were no good to anyone if they were zombies, they could miss vital evidence, so they relented and stood up from the table, collecting their evidence, before returning to their beds for much needed rest.

~An hour later~

A black van parked a little ways away from the Crime Lab so as to not be seen by the many security cameras in the parking garage and in front of the building.

Six men exited the van and stealthily crept towards the building. When they reached the building, one by one they shifted through the wall and reappeared in the locker room of the Crime Lab.

"Where's the evidence room Greg?" Sean asked looking round at the rows of lockers around them.

"It's this way." Greg led the men towards the wall on the other side of the room. One by one the men passed through the room and before the camera was able to record their presence, they quickly steered around the view of the lens and made it across the room and into the next.

They continued this process for two more rooms before they made it to the evidence room.

Sean looked at Greg expectantly and Greg knew what he was thinking. "I don't know exactly where they're keeping the evidence for Tina's case, so we're just going to have to look." Greg informed him. But unbeknownst to the five men, excluding Greg of course, one of the newer security cameras that was hidden very well along the wall was recording the men's every move.

"Ha ha, jackpot! Hey guys I found it!" Exclaimed one of the men. Everyone gathered around the box and with double-layered latex gloves on to prevent leaving fingerprints, the box was carried over to a table and set the box down.

"We don't need to sort through it guys, lets just get out of here and dispose of it." Sean ordered, anxious to get out of there as fast as he could.

Greg and the four other men walked over to the wall and shifted through it, but a surprise waited for them on the other side and this unforeseen surprise went by the name of Hodges.

Hodges was startled by the sudden intrusion and dropped his cup of coffee. The shards of china scattered in front of him and he didn't even notice the burning of the coffee that had seeped through his pant leg. He looked at the men in front of him in shock, much like they were looking at him in surprise, before his eyes stopped on Greg.

"Sanders?" He questioned in shock.

Sean recovered first from the surprise and reached for the gun hidden in his coat. The other men, excluding Greg coped his movements. Greg knew what was about to happen and quickly shot forward to push Hodges down on the floor and out of the way just as the bullets started flying.

He managed to dodge most of them, but one stray bullet managed to lodge itself in his shoulder. Not having time to fuss over his wound he quickly crawled to the floor over to where Hodges was on his stomach, covering his ears with his hands.

"Get out of here!" Greg shouted.

Not having to be told twice Hodges shot up from the floor and escaped through the door, narrowly avoiding a bullet meant for his head. The initial fire of bullets had stopped when Greg had been shot, but Sean had continued shooting, mainly aiming to scare Hodges into making a dumb move and get shot, but he stopped shooting once Hodges was out of eyeshot.

Sean lowered his gun and angrily walked over to Greg, yanking him up from the floor by the scruff of his hair, ratting his injuries as well as the injuries he had sustained earlier.

"What did I tell you about following orders?" He spat in Greg's face.

"Your orders didn't include killing! And I told you that if you tried to hurt anyone I cared about, especially Nick, I would kill you!" Greg retorted.

Sean carelessly dropped Greg to the floor, which caused a grunt of pain on impact.

Sean turned to his men and smiled, relaying the next order. "Kill Nicholas Stokes!"

Upon hearing this Greg eased himself up from the floor and limped over to the wall. Before he shifted through he was stopped by Sean's voice.

"You're going to have to hurry Greg; I have more men out there who can easily finish the job!" Sean laughed as Greg shifted through wall after wall until he reached outside.

Greg limped his way over the van, getting in the driver's side. The keys were of course gone, but after spending a few weeks with his older cousin when he was a kid, he had learned all kinds of juvenile delinquent things, like for instance; hotwiring a car.

Greg quickly went through the procedure of hotwiring a car and when the van sputtered to life he had to resist himself from shouting out in joy. He put the car in drive and pulled out of the parking lot and onto the surprisingly deserted streets of Las Vegas.

~Nick's apartment building~

After going out and showing pictures of Greg around Nick trudged back into his apartment building and dug through his pockets, before producing his key and stopping in front of his door.

He slid the key into the lock and turned. Before he entered the room he reached around the door and flipped the light switch on, covering the room in light.

Nick walked inside and closed the door behind him, being careful to relock all three of the locks on his door. After making sure the door was properly locked he turned back around and immediately felt that something was off.

He looked around the room cautiously, when his eyes landed on the open window, explaining the unusual smell of dessert and the slight breeze drifting into his room. A feeling of dread and unease filled him as he would never leave a window open.

Nick pulled his gun out, clicking the safety off then holding the weapon out in front of him ready to fire. His eyes traveled across the entire room, watching out for any unwanted visitors.

He walked around the room and stopped abruptly when he heard a soft moan of pain coming from behind his couch. With his gun now trained at the couch he slowly crept towards it and peered over the edge. He saw a figure lying on the floor behind it, practically bleeding to death, making his heart skip a beat.

"Greg?" He just managed to choke out.

**A/N: I'm sorry it took so long to update this story but I have been extremely busy. Please review if you want more because it really motivates me to write more! Also I have to give an extreme thank you to my BETA Holly, thanks for helping me!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for all the help Holly (My BETA) You rock!**

Nick rushed to Greg's side and gasped at the sight before him; if he thought Greg looked bad before, up close was even worse.

Greg looked like he had gotten hit by a car and had been left for dead on the side of the road, sure there were bandages covering the worst of the injuries, but he could still see the bruises and shallow cuts on his face and arms. What really had him concerned was the blood gushing from Greg's shoulder.

Nick put his gun to the side, applying pressure to the wound. Greg hissed in agony, his eyes cracked open slightly. Through his blurred vision he saw a blurry human shaped figure, but he couldn't quite make out who it was. Whoever it was he prayed to God that they would not inflict anymore harm on him. His prayers were answered when he heard the familiar Texan drawl of his secret love.

"Hang on Greg, I'm gonna call an ambulance and everything is going to be okay." Nick tried to assure the brutally beaten figure beneath him, hoping Greg could hear him.

Upon hearing this Greg panicked and tried to shoot up from the floor, but gasped in pain from the stress it put on his injuries.

"Just relax G, you're hurt pretty bad. I'm surprised you managed to get in here without passing out from the blood loss." Nick would not say 'without dying' because he couldn't bare the idea of Greg dying, even though with the state he was in now it was a very big possibility.

"Y-You can't c-call the hospital Nick . . . you c-can't tell anyone that I-I'm here . . . I-If you do . . . t-there could be unthinkable . . . r-repercussions," Greg stammered from the writhing pain throughout his body.

"Greg you need to get to a hospital so a doctor can help you! The whole team has been worried sick about you since you escaped from the hospital. Why did you escape Greg? Please I need to know what's going on so I can help you!" Nick pleaded.

"Y-You can't help me Nick . . . I-If anything were to happen to you . . . I-I'd never forgive myself . . . s-so please listen to me . . . when I say that k-keeping you in the dark . . . I-Is for your own good." Greg pleaded.

Nick looked deep into Greg's pleading eyes and his heart was torn in two. He really wanted to help Greg and get him the help he needed, along with finding out what the hell had happened to him, but on the other hand he didn't want to betray Greg and destroy the trust he had in Nick to keep his presence here a secret.

"All right, but I don't agree with your decision. I won't call an ambulance and I won't ask about what happened to you, but will you at least let me dress your wounds myself?" He pleaded.

Greg managed to nod; Nick sprung up from the floor and dashed into his kitchen to get the first aid kit, along with making a pit stop by the liquor cabinet to get a bottle of half empty vodka.

He returned to Greg's side and opened the kit up. Getting out a pair of small scissors from the kit he carefully cut Greg's blood soaked shirt off his fragile body. When the tattered remains of the shirt was removed, he quickly set to work on checking the wound; the worst of the injuries had all ready been taken care of by some unknown person, but the one he was focusing on now was the obvious bullet wound in Greg's shoulder.

Nick got a pair of tweezers out of the kit and sterilized them with the vodka, but before beginning the amateur surgery he handed Greg the bottle of vodka and carefully held his head up so he wouldn't choke as Greg drank most of the remaining vodka down.

When Greg had his fill Nick took the bottle and set it down.

"Just grab my hand and squeeze as hard as you need to . . . because I'm not going to lie, this is really, really going to hurt." Nick warned, trying to hold it together for Greg's sake.

Greg took Nick's offered hand; Nick gave him a reassured squeeze before turning to the work on Greg's injury. With a deep breath to prepare himself for the pain he was about to inflict on the man he loved he began the surgery.

The tweezers entered Greg's wound and Greg barely managed to keep the earth shattering screams that wanted to erupt from his throat, but he held on and put Nick's hand in a death grip. Nick flinched from the pain his hand was in, but he wouldn't stop what he was doing until he got the bullet out.

"I'm sorry G . . . but the bullet is really in there." Nick apologized.

Regretfully Nick was forced to dig deeper into the wound and that was when it started to happen. The room began to quake, pictures, trinkets and other items began shaking from their places on the walls and shelf's, crashing to the floor. The more fragile things shattered to pieces on impact.

Greg screamed and the supernatural earthquake only got worse.

Fearing that Las Vegas was currently experiencing a massive earthquake, Nick tried to hurry, knowing it would be wiser to bring Greg with him into the bathroom and get him in the tub so that they could wait the earthquake out, but he didn't have time for that right now, he had to get the bullet out.

"Just hang on Greg . . . I almost got it," and in fact he did because he could see and feel the metal siding of the bullet against the tweezers. He managed to get a hold of the bullet and carefully pulled the foreign object out of Greg's body before it could do any further damage.

Disposing of the bullet in the first aid kit he quickly got the surgical thread and needle out of the kit, which he fortunately had stocked up in case of an emergency. Nick pulled the lighter out of his pocket, holding the needle over the flame, making quick work of sewing the wound closed to stop the blood flow. He then wrapped gauze over the stitches to keep the stitches safe from getting infected.

As soon as the operation was over, the 'earthquake' miraculously stopped.

Nick thanked God then carefully picked Greg's weakened body from the floor. He would have laid him down on the couch, but there was debris from the 'earthquake', so he carried Greg off to his room at the back of his apartment, that had somehow remained untouched by the 'earthquake'.

He carefully lay Greg down on his bed then sat down on the side, neither one had relinquished the other's hand.

Since Greg's disappearance Nick had been thinking a lot about his decision to not tell Greg about how he felt about him. He had been scared out of his mind that he would never see Greg again and he had vowed that if he ever saw Greg again he was going to hell him how he felt about him, no matter the consequences. So if Greg never wanted to see him again then so be it because he couldn't bare the thought of Greg not knowing that he loved him.

"Greg I-," right as he was going to reveal his biggest secret a new voice penetrated the room.

"Figured you'd come here." Nick whirled around and reached for his gun on his holster, grabbing air as he remembered he had left it in the living room. He cursed himself inwardly, but remembered he had a spare gun in his nightstand from anxiety that another stalker would try and kill him, but if this person was armed he wouldn't have a chance of reaching the weapon in time.

He looked round at the intruder in his bedroom, seeing a young woman who didn't appear to be armed, but it could be concealed; she was wearing blue skinny jeans, a green blouse and black converse trainers. Her blond hair was tied back in a tight ponytail and she had her hands on her hips.

"Who are you, and how did you get in my apartment?" Nick demanded, rising from the bed.

"Relax I'm unarmed . . . I'm not going to hurt you. Ask Greg if you don't believe me." Nick turned to Greg who nodded his head in reassurance, easing himself up from the bed. Nick moved to lower him back down, but Greg assured him he was fine.

"What are you doing here Korey?" Greg choked, staring at her intently. Through that gaze Korey knew that Greg was demanding answers and wouldn't stop asking until he got them.

"I came here to help. Sean and his goons will be here soon. When I left the sanctum him and his men were gathering weapons from the artillery room, I overheard him talking to George; Sean's planted a lie in George's head that you've betrayed them and that your continuing Tina's work. He told him you're going to sell them to the General and in exchange you'll be a free man, living the rich life." She concluded.

Greg turned away from her, looking down at the floor.

"If my father's declared war on me then all of his followers will listen to him . . . we have to get Nick out of here!" He said in a panic turning back to Nick.

Nick got up from the bed, looking at the two people in front of him in confusion.

"Look Greg I know I told you that I wouldn't ask what happened to you, but I really think you need to tell me now because from what I've heard, sounds to me like an army is heading this way intent on killing you and I'll be damned if I allow them to hurt you."

"We're shifters…"

Greg cut her off. "We can't tell him Korey, he'll be in danger if we do." He pleaded.

"He has a right to know Greg! I know you want to protect him, but that will be a lot easier if we tell him exactly what we're protecting him from. To do that there can't be any secrets." She reasoned. Greg shook his head, biting his lower lip.

"Fine tell him," He huffed. "But I still think this is a bad idea." Greg walked across the room and leant against the wall.

"As I was saying before; we're shifters, we have the ability to walk through any solid objects and some of us have gained extra abilities." She turned to Greg. "From the state of your living room, I'd say that you've all ready experienced Greg's other ability, telekinesis."

Nick looked at Greg in shock. Greg looked down at the floor awkwardly.

"When we caught word that another shifter had been found; George, the leader of the shifters in the Las Vegas area, also Greg's father; assembled a group of shifters to awaken Greg's shifter gene. Among these men was Sean. They cornered him when he was walking out of a club and forced him into the alley where they administrated the drug that would awaken his gene. When Greg was unconscious they brought him back to the sanctuary and had our tattooist tattoo the mark that would symbolize his gift…" Nick looked over at Greg as he covered up his arm. "But something went wrong . . . Greg woke up, we didn't see the need to strap him down, so he managed to spring out of the chair and attack not only the tattoo artist, but a few other shifters who were in the room. He was a man possessed as he fought them, blood was everywhere and if his father hadn't come and forced him to go to sleep he would have killed at least five men . . . It was unbelievable that only a few drops of blood managed to stain his shirt, but I'm guessing that there was more blood that couldn't be seen." She turned to Greg who had a haunted look in his eyes. Nick followed her gaze and his concern for Greg grew, he made his way over to him.

Flashes of what she described came back to him. He remembered the rage that had filled him as he attacked those men and he didn't even care that he could kill them because that's what he wanted; he wanted to kill those men.

"All that blood." He breathed, remembering the horror he had felt when he had taken a shower and had seen all the blood wash down the drain; he had been horrified that he had killed someone and now he knew that he almost had.

A hand suddenly found its way on his shoulder and he jumped in surprise and cried out when he rattled his injuries.

"Greg! It's just me Nick, you were spacing out man…I was worried about you." Nick soothed him, looking into Greg's worried gaze. He hated to cause him so much grief.

"When I woke up I was back in the alley, why did you guys just dump me there and not just keep me in the sanctum?" Greg asked.

"Your father thought it would be a better idea that you were returned so that no one would come looking for you. He sent Sean and Toby to your apartment so that they could explain what you are and to deliver your medication." She answered.

"Medication? You mean those shots we found in your pocket?" Nick asked.

"Yes, I know you guys probably thought they were drugs, but they were antibodies that were helping stabilize my genes. They told me that if I didn't take them, I would die so I had no choice but to take them. I brought a handful to the lab to find out what they contained. That day when I walked into the parking lot to go to our assigned case Sean and Toby cornered me and knocked me out. When I woke up I was in the sanctum sitting in a chair and before me was my father. I hated him and I still do . . . he murdered that girl Tina because he thought he was protecting the secret of the shifters, but in all reality it was his right hand man that would betray him in the end. He tried to reason with me that killing Tina was the only option they had but I wouldn't listen . . . it wasn't until he threatened to kill you Nick . . . that I went along with his plan. I helped Sean steal evidence from the evidence locker that pointed to the secret of the shifters. I gave them information about the security in the lab and I gave them the schedules of everyone on nightshift, but Hodges showed up and if I hadn't of pushed him out of the way he would be on Doc Robbins slab right now. I hate what I did, but I did it all to protect you Nick . . . I would die to protect you." Greg finished with tears in the corners of his eyes.

"You're not the only one who played a part in this Greg. Sean got the information from me. I work at the memory base that contains all the information on known shifters; including yourself. Sean came to me and told me that if I gave him all the information on the shifters he would allow me to see my brother . . . but the bastard lied! I knew I never should've trusted him, but the offer he was dealing was just too great, I couldn't refuse a chance to see Chris again, so I went to his quarters with all the information on a UBS drive and when I asked him about my brother . . . he laughed in my face and told me that I was a stupid girl for actually believing him! When I turned to run and tell George, he grabbed me by my hair and forced me into his room; locking the door behind him he turned to face me and told me that not only would he kill my brother, if I said anything to George . . . but he would go after everyone I care about in my family and beyond!" She confessed.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke again. "Enough down memory lane, we have to get out of here before Sean and his men arrive."

Greg nodded and even though Nick was still a little unsure if he should believe what they were telling him, he agreed to go with them. As they were heading for the door a hand popped out of the wall and grabbed Korey by the neck; cutting off her air supply. Greg ran to help her and when his back was turned Sean stepped out from the wall behind Nick and grabbed him, grabbing a fistful of Nick's hair and pointing a gun at his head.

"Hello again Greg!" said the menacing voice of Sean. Greg turned around and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of Nick being held at gunpoint by Sean.

"Please let him go Sean! I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt him please!" He begged.

The man who had Korey by the hair walked out from the wall, heading towards Sean.

"So I'm guessing Korey couldn't keep her slutty mouth shut and spilled my little secret. I guess I'm going to have to not only kill Nick for Greg's disobedience, but all of Korey's loved ones as well." Sean stated with a sinister laugh.

"You lay one hand on any of the people I love and I swear to god with my dying breath, I'll kill you in the most gruesome and painful way I can think of!" and to add to her hatred she managed to tilt her head and spat in Sean's face.

Sean wiped the spit off his face and smirked. "You always were a sassy one," without warning he slapped her across the face and her head whipped to the side. Korey spit blood from a newly formed split lip, turning back to face Sean.

"Fuck you Sean!" She hissed.

"I think I've heard quite enough from her, Henry," the man holding Korey bashed her head against the wall and she was knocked out like a light.

"Blessed silence!" Praised Sean with a smirk.

"What are you going to do Sean? Take me back to my father so that I can be punished for something _you've_ done?" Greg questioned.

"Oh not at all Greg, in fact I'm going to make you a deal. You see I have no use for a weak shifter like Korey, but you on the other hand; I could do wonders with a shifter like you. If you come with me I'll not only leave Nick alone, allowing him to live, but I'll also give Korey back her life as well." Sean explained.

"Greg don't do it!" Nick protested, but was silenced by the butt of the gun whacking across the back of his skull.

"Nick!" Greg shouted and tried to run for him, but was held back by two other men. The blow to the back of the back of the skull didn't knock Nick out, but it did leave him dazed.

"What's it gonna be Greg? Saving your lover's life or watching as I blow his brains out and then forcing you to watch as I slit Korey's throat so I'll never have to hear her annoying voice again. It's your choice Greg, choose wisely." Sean advised.

Greg didn't even have to think very long to come to a decision. "All right, I'll go with you just don't hurt them anymore please!" Greg gave in.

"Very wise choice Greg." Sean approved. Out of nowhere Sean slammed the butt of the gun against the back of Nick's skull, Greg tried to run to him as Nick fell to his knees, falling unconscious to the floor. The same was done to Korey who fell down next to him.

"No! Nick!" Greg screamed. Sean walked over to Nick's body, where Greg was thrashing around in the men's grips.

"I said I'd let them live Greg, by the rise and fall of their chests . . . I'd say I've lived up to my end of the bargain. Now its time for you to fulfill your end." Sean took a shot out of his pocket and held Greg in place by his throat as he injected the knock out serum into his neck. The serum was fast acting and Greg quickly fell into Sean's awaiting arms.

"Let's get out here!" Sean and his men exited the apartment building and got into the van that Greg had stolen from them.

"Back to the sanctum Sean?" asked the man at the wheel.

"No!" The windows of the van were shattered with a spray of bullets; the two men in the front of the van were killed. The two men in the back tried to escape through the van's side door, but as soon as they got the door open they too were killed by two bullets to the heads.

"You guys have impeccable timing." Sean said as he got out of the van and lugged Greg out with him.

The men who had shot the four shifters were in military clothing, they took Greg from Sean arms, Sean followed them to a black limo that was on the other side of the road. When they reached the limo the back window rolled down, revealing a General in the army who was the buyer of the secrets Sean was selling.

"You've done well Sean. Your reward is waiting for you in your bank account. Put the shifter in the trunk and be sure to bound and gag him," the soldiers saluted him, dragging Greg to the back of the limo, they bound and gagged him with bandannas they were carrying; Greg was put in the trunk and the lid was slammed shut, being automatically locked.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Sean."

Sean stepped back from the limo as it drove off. The soldiers got into their own vehicle, driving off behind the limo.

"And to you sir." Sean walked off happily, starting to plan all the things he was going to do with his new found riches.

A/N: Sorry it took so long for this to updated but I have been mourning the loss of my computer since my hard drive burned out. This chapter wouldn't have been as excellent as it is now if it weren't for my BETA Holly so thanks Holly for being the world's best BETA! Review if you want more.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks for the awesome help and tips Holly I'll be sure to put them into account for the next chapter!**

~Inside Nick's apartment~

Nick woke up with a pain filled moan, looking around his apartment and wondered what the hell had happened. When another groan filled the room Nick looked to his side and saw Korey. All the memories started coming back and he moved over to Korey to rouse her awake.

"Korey? Korey come on wake up!" Nick urged.

"Mmmmh." Her eyes fluttered open a crack as she looked up into the concerned face of Nick.

"They took Greg," He informed her sorrowfully.

Korey sat up too fast and suffered the consequences as the room started to spin. Her head felt like nails were being pounded into it.

"Take it easy, we both took a pretty bad beating to the head." Nick helped her sit up against the wall, sitting down himself beside her. "We have to get him back Korey. I can't lose him again," Nick said turning to her.

"And we will, but first we have to find out where Sean's taken him." Korey slowly eased herself up from the floor and Nick followed suit.

"Where would Sean take him?" Nick asked once they were standing.

"If I were Sean, I'd take him back to the Sanctum so that I could watch George punish Greg for betraying him." She answered.

"Punish Greg how?" A hollow feeling penetrated Nick's gut that Greg's punishment wasn't going to be grounded for the rest of the year, like most fathers would do to their son's.

Korey sighed and walked away from Nick, back into the living room.

"George is one of the shifters with an extra ability. He has the ability to manipulate people's minds and he can also look into their heads and see any memory he wants as if they were his own. From what I've heard around the Sanctum George has all ready used his ability on Greg to see what you and Greg collected from Tina's crime scene. When George looks into someone's head the person experiences an unbelievable amount of pain resulting in most commonly a bloody nose and a really, really intense migraine." She finished.

Nick leaned up against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. "C-Could…could Greg…die?" He barely managed to choke out.

Korey was facing away from Nick and she sighed, regretting what she was about to say.

"Yes, and the worst part is that George will be relentless. Even though Greg is his own son, his own flesh and blood, he will make sure that Greg suffers through the most agonizing torture he can think of." She turned to face Nick, watching him slide down the wall with tears in his eyes.

She walked over to him and sat down in front of him.

"This is all my fault," He whispered, tears falling down his face.

"No its not! Even though I only met Greg a few days ago. I can tell that he is a kind loving man who would do anything to protect the people he loves. If protecting them means having to lose some blood, he's willing to do just that if that means that you're safe." She said trying to sooth him.

"That's exactly my point! Greg said it himself 'I would die to protect you', and I'm terrified out of my mind that he's going to do just that!" Nick wept, pulling his knees up to his chest like a scared little child.

"That doesn't have to be the outcome, we can still save him and the longer we sit here crying about it, the bigger the possibility of Greg being your next crime scene!" She almost shouted, trying to knock some sense into the man before her.

Nick looked up at her with tears still running down his face, but a look of determination in his eyes. "Your right." He climbed to his feet against the wall, wiping the tears from his eyes.

He walked past her and picked up his gun from behind the couch.

"Take me to the Sanctum." He requested. Korey rose from the ground and walked over to Nick who was checking the barrel of the gun to see how many bullets he had left. It was still full.

Korey instantly knew what his plan was.

"It's going to be a lot harder to kill George and Sean with a gun. They have loyal followers Nick. As soon as they see a gun they will kill you on sight!" She insisted.

"Let them try and catch me." He turned to face her, spun the barrel back in place and placed the gun back in its holster.

"You really do love him don't you?"

"Yeah I do . . . and I'll do whatever it takes to have him safely back in my arms." Nick replied firmly.

Korey was about to speak, but a knocking on the door behind them interrupted her. Nick walked over to the door and looked through the peak hole, seeing Grissom standing on the other side. Fearing that Korey's warning of Greg being his next crime scene had come true he quickly unlocked the door, pulling it towards him.

"Grissom what happened?" Nick was almost too afraid to ask.

"Are you aware that there's a crime scene right outside your window?" Grissom asked. Nick gave him a puzzled look, turned around and walked over to the nearest window facing the street, pulling the blinds back. He looked down at the streets and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance and police cars; he also saw Warrick and Sara looking over a black van with the glass from the windows sprayed out across the street.

Nick turned back to Grissom who had stepped into the apartment and was looking around at the destruction in the living room.

He turned to Nick with a concerned look on his face. "What happened here Nick?" Nick moved to answer, but Korey beat him to the punch.

"Nick and I had a little too much fun last night. Hi I'm Korey Stevenson." She introduced herself. Grissom nodded and noticed that she was sporting a split lip and she had a nice sized goose egg on the side of her head.

Looking over at Nick he saw that Nick was also looking worse for wear.

"It was a nice story Korey. But I want the truth!" Grissom replied, looking at the both of them with an accusing glare.

~Greg~

When Greg returned to the land of the living he was welcomed by a brilliant white light and distorted voices.

"…Patient…awake…General…" Greg's vision was cloudy and he felt light headed. A blotted shape came into his line of vision, barely managing to make out that it was a face with a mask over their mouth.

'Am I in the hospital?' He thought to himself.

"…Base…experiment…" at hearing experiment for some reason his memories of last night came back and he suddenly started to panic. He thrashed around in what he discovered was an examining chair, with his wrists and ankles securely strapped down. He also noted that he was shirtless and there were wires connecting to his chest keeping track of his heart rate that was rapidly increasing.

"He's becoming more lucid doctor," Said a female voice.

Greg could now make out seven different people in the room, all dressed in long white lab coats. He could also see that the room he was in looked a hell of a lot like an airplane hangar because he could see a military jet stationed a few feet away from him.

"Glad to see our patient is finally awake," Said a new voice. Greg turned his head slightly, seeing a man wearing a suit walking towards him with two men in army cameo on either side of him.

"He just woke up. I was just about to start." He held out his hand and a woman handed him an empty syringe.

Greg watched as the man took the cap off the needle and brought the needle down to his exposed forearm. Greg began to squirm and the two military men, who were now at his side with the suited man, held him firmly down, immobilizing him.

The doctor was able to locate a vein and insert the needle. Greg flinched and hissed as the doctor waited until the vial was filled with his blood. When the vial was full, the needle was taken out and a band-aid was placed over the puncture mark to stop the blood from pulsing out.

The doctor handed the vial back to the woman who brought it over to a counter and marked the blood vial with 'patient X'.

"Well Mr. Sanders, since it would appear that you're going to be our guest for quite a while. Why don't we get properly acquainted; my name is General Thomas, and you my dear boy are going to America's greatest defense." He said proudly.

"Last I checked I didn't enlist, now get Dr. Needles away from me and let me go!" Greg demanded.

General Thomas laughed, taking a step closer towards Greg, so they were face to face.

"I would treat me with respect if I were you Gregory, because I'm the one who's in the seat of power, and I if I were to tell 'Dr. Needles' as you so kindly named him, to make you an unemotional living robot, he would have to do so, and trust me he does have the technology to do just that." He threatened.

General Thomas backed away from Greg and turned to Dr. Needles.

"Begin the procedure," He ordered. The doctor stepped forward and placed two wires connecting to a brainwave activity monitor on Greg's head.

"I'm told you have the ability of telekinesis that is brought on by emotional stress." The machine was turned on and Greg's brainwave activity was put on display. Another set of wires was placed on his chest; Greg didn't see the machine these wires were attached to, but he had a feeling of what type of machine it was.

Greg looked at the people around him and tried to find even a little bit of compassion for his life; he found compassion in the woman that had taken his blood from the doctor. She refused to meet his gaze and he could see the regret written all across her face.

"You don't have to do this." He begged her.

The woman finally looked at him and sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry," She said regretfully, refusing to look him directly in the eye.

"You may begin doctor," The General ordered impatiently. Dr. Needles nodded his head and turned on the machine that was connected to the wires on Greg's chest. The affect was instantaneous. The machine turned out to be an electro shock therapy machine. Sparks of electricity ran through Greg's body and he thrashed around in his restraints and didn't even try to hold in his screams of agony.

Dr. Needles checked Greg's brain wave activity and shook his head at the General.

"Increase the voltage!" The General demanded. Dr. Needles went over to the machine, turning the valve to increase the voltage. This only caused Greg to scream louder and his heart rate to increase. The woman who Greg had tried to get help from, walked away from the horrific scene, heading outside to get some fresh air, trying to calm herself down. She could still hear the heart wrenching screams of the man inside and she really loathed herself for being part of the reason that that poor man was being tortured.

When she had signed on to be a part of this science project, she knew that she would have to help make a living human become an unstoppable killer, and yes she also knew that in order to do that, the subject would have to undergo an incredible amount of pain, but she never expected the huge feeling of regret and sorrow that filled her when the subject had begged her to stop his insane torture.

She had wanted to, but she had a family to think of and her husband had recently lost his job along with the debt they were in, she just couldn't do it. This position had her earning $1,000,000 at the end of the experiment. She didn't know when the experiment would be over, but she really needed the money so she would have to put her emotions aside and finish the job.

With a collected sigh she walked back into the building. The sight that met her was one she would never forget; all of the machines in the room, including the ones hooked up to the subject, were floating in mid air along with, incredibly enough - the jet, but what really made her jaw drop was the sight of three of her colleagues dangling in the air, desperately trying to get down.

The General stood in amazement at the sight before him. With a weapon like Greg Sanders, his army could easily penetrate all of their enemy forces. Not only that, he himself would have unbelievable power! But while the General was dreaming about all the powerful opportunities in his future the electro shock therapy had taken a toll on Greg's heart and as a result the organ stuttered and stopped.

The objects and people that were dangling in the air suddenly collapsed back to the ground.

The sound of the endless beep brought the General out of his dream state, looking to the machine and saw that Greg was flat lining. Dr. Needles was hovering over Greg and shouting out orders. A young man, that couldn't have been older than 23, wheeled the defibrillator over to the doctor.

Dr. Needles quickly squirted some gel onto the paddles, rubbing them together while the other doctors removed any metal on Greg. The doctor placed one fully charged paddle on the upper right side of Greg's chest and the other on the lower left. The doctor quickly plugged the paddles in, the required shock was shown and the race to save Greg's life was on.

Greg's body jumped up from the chair he was restrained to. His chest arching up towards the paddles with each charge to his chest.

"C'mon Doc bring him back! I'm not done with him yet!" The General ordered. The doctor increased the voltage and gave Greg another life saving shock.

Two minutes passed when the doctor concluded that the defibrillator wasn't going to bring Greg back, he moved on to CPR. Setting the paddles down the doctor pinched Greg's nose and administered two breaths that were one second each then made a fist and began pressing down on Greg's chest.

The whole procedure took three minutes. Three minutes that Gregory Hojem Sanders was officially dead to the world. Thankfully Greg let out a loud wheezing breath of air. His eyes popped open, life returning to his face.

Dr. Needles checked Greg's heart rate and was pleased to see it was returning to normal.

"I think that's enough for one day doctor. Sergeant. Carlos, Sergeant. Menox, unbound Mr. Sanders and take him to his cell." The General ordered. The two sergeants did as they were instructed, unbinding Greg, lifting him up from the chair. Greg was too weak to struggle. They pulled him to his feet, placing wrist and anklets on him, dragging him off to his cell.

~Back inside Nick's apartment~

"I know it sounds insane, but I'm telling you the truth!" Nick insisted after he had finished telling Grissom exactly what had happened, seeing the disbelieving look in his boss' eyes.

"I can prove what he's saying is true." Korey added, stepping forwards.

"Normally I am able to give new, crazy ideas a try, but I seriously think the two of you need to have those goose eggs of yours examined." Grissom explained in a concerned tone.

Korey walked over to the wall that had Nick's kitchen on the other side and placed her hand on the wall. "Just watch this, please?" She begged, trying to get him to believe her.

Grissom sighed and nodded his head, agreeing to indulge them. He stared at her blankly, thinking she was completely off her nut.

Korey looked back to the wall, shifting her hand right through the wall so it was sticking out the other side in the kitchen. Grissom's eyes widened in surprise. He walked into the kitchen and was amazed to see a hand waving at him from the wall. He almost had a heart attack when Korey walked completely through the wall and stood before him smiling smugly.

"Do you believe us now?" She asked. Nick entered the kitchen and stood beside Korey, waiting for the shock to leave Grissom. Hardly anything shocked Grissom, but seeing a woman walking through a solid wall like it was nothing was enough to make him question his sanity.

When Grissom had gathered his wits he finally spoke. "I guess Hodges was telling the truth as well then." He sheepishly spoke, feeling bad for telling Hodges he was out of his mind.

"What do you mean?" Nick asked curiously.

"Last night a group of men broke into the lab and stole the evidence on the Tina Lothspeich case. Hodges was finishing up some backlog and he told me that when he was walking into the break room to get some more coffee, Greg and five other men suddenly came out of the wall like they were walking out of a door. The men stopped in surprise and after they got over their initial shock, one of the men, who he assumed was the leader, raised his gun and the four other men followed suit. Greg shot forward, pushing Hodges out of the way and received a bullet in the shoulder. Greg told Hodges to run and he did just that," Grissom concluded.

That explained how Greg got the bullet in the shoulder. _He was protecting Hodges_. Nick realized.

"We checked the surveillance from inside the evidence room and confirmed that six men, Greg included, had in fact stolen vital evidence which is still missing." Grissom informed them.

"Why would Greg steal evidence?" Nick thought out loud.

"Because his father told him to, because in the evidence that you and Greg collected had the identities of all the shifters in the Las Vegas area. The only way he was able to get Greg to do that was by threatening to kill you Nick." Korey answered.

Grissom's phone suddenly rang; he fetched it from his pocket answering it. "Grissom."

"_Griss." _Sara answered._ "We have a witness down here saying she saw five men dragging an unconscious young man; fitting Greg's description, out of Nick's building into the black van. She said a few seconds later a limo and another van pulled up, opening fire on the black van. Apparently two men in army cameo were the shooters. Then a man and the young man, who was unconscious at the time, got out the black van and were escorted over to the limo. She couldn't see who was in the limo, but she did manage to see the two military men bind the unconscious young man and dump him in the trunk of the limo. Then they all drove off . . . the man dragging Greg disappeared." Sara reported._

"Good work Sara. I'll see you down there." Grissom hung up, looking back at Nick and Korey. "Five men were seen dragging Greg out of here into the black van downstairs. Apparently two men in army cameo opened fire on the van and four of the men inside were killed, excluding Greg and the man who had been dragging him. The man holding Greg got out the van exchanging Greg with some military men. The fifth man walked away once Greg was in the trunk." Grissom summarized to the two people in front of him.

"Sean's already made the deal." When she was met by confused looks, she elaborated. "Sean sold Greg to the military so that he could be made into a killer."

Nick's fist clenched in anger at his sides. He was really itching to put a bullet in Sean's head, after he was finished torturing him for doing that to man he loves.

"I want to talk to this witness." Nick spoke through clenched teeth.

"I'm not sure that that is such a good idea Nick…" Grissom cautioned.

"I don't care what you think Grissom! Greg is going through hell because he's trying to protect me! I need to be put back on this case Griss." Nick demanded in an angry desperate voice.

Grissom looked deep into Nick's anxious, pleading eyes and saw all the love and determination that was harboring there. How could he have missed that which was so obvious now? He knew that even if he didn't allow Nick to help out with the case, Nick would take it upon himself to find Greg on his own and possibly get himself killed in the process.

Coming to a decision he looked back at Nick. "All right, but you can't let your feelings for Greg cloud your judgment. You've already allowed them to cloud your judgment once before, and if it happens again you're off the case for good." Grissom threatened.

"Thank you Griss! I promise you won't regret this!" Nick wanted to shout and leap for joy, but he settled for giving Grissom a quick hug, which startled the older man, and an award-winning smile.

"Since your back on this case, I guess I can allow you to speak to the witness." Grissom gave in.

~Inside Greg's cell~

The anklets that were attached to Greg's wrists and ankles were activated to shock him if he tried to use his shifting or telekinetic abilities, so trying to escape was out of the question, unless he wanted to become a human electric rod . . . again!

His cell was really just a huge glass dome that was the size of Greg's old lab with air holes drilled in giving Greg the feeling of being an actual lab rat. Inside the cell there was a small cot with one thin blanket and a pillow. A toilet and sink sat in another corner, along with a single metal chair.

Greg was really starting to get claustrophobic of all these cells people kept shoving him in.

Greg was lying on his cot, staring up at the ceiling when he heard someone tapping on the wall of the cell. He looked towards the source of the sound, seeing the woman he had tried to get to help him, standing there holding a tray of food. Greg rolled himself up from the cot, the anklets making this a very difficult task. He trudged over to the wall she was standing behind, watching her cautiously.

She pressed a button and a loud static sound came forth, signaling that the speaker was on and a conversation could begin.

"I brought you some food, thought you might be hungry." She lifted up a lid and slid the tray of food into a container. Greg opened the container from inside the cell and retrieved the tray of food, or what Greg thought to look like slops of different colors. He made a face and set the tray aside on the floor.

"I'm not hungry," He mumbled monotonously. He turned away from the woman, heading back to the cot when she spoke again.

"You really should eat something, I know it doesn't look very appetizing, but its full of all the nutrients you need, and you should really eat something to keep up your strength," She tried to encourage him.

Greg stopped in his tracks and laughed humorlessly. "Keep up my strength? So you can what?" He turned around and trudged back over to her. "Turn me into a monster? I'd rather die. So take your food and shove it up the Generals the ass!" He stated with a hard face.

She looked into Greg's eyes and saw an endless amount of anger, but she also saw sorrow. "I know you're angry-"

He stopped her right there. "Angry?! I'm a prisoner! I've been forced to give blood and shocked to quite literally death! All to help your crusade in making a monster! So No, I'd say I'm a little bit more than angry! Pissed off and Murderous…but way beyond angry! So as I said before, take your food and leave me the hell alone." He exploded with anger.

His body was quivering in rage and if he wasn't in a cell with anklets preventing him from using his powers, he knew that he would use his abilities to not only kill the woman in front of him, but everyone in the hangar as well.

Before all this had begun Greg wouldn't have ever thought of hurting another living being on purpose, but his soul had hardened from all the crap he had experienced and he found his morals to have shriveled up and blown away.

He wasn't the same Greg as he was before.

"I never wanted to be a part of this experiment, but my family needs the money." She tried to reason.

"I'm sure that if your family knew where this money came from, they wouldn't want any of it. I can understand you needing the money to support them, and hell I can even understand the lengths you're willing to go for them, but did you ever think that by doing what you're doing here, could be putting them in even more danger? How do you know that the moment this 'experiment' is over, the General isn't going to have everyone here killed to cover his trail, including killing your family?" Greg asked her.

The woman seemed to be thinking it over and she shook her head as if in denial. "The General gave me his word, and I haven't even told my family about any of this." She insisted.

"Do you really think he cares? I'm willing to bet the man would have his own family killed if he saw the need." Greg retorted.

"No, you're wrong!" But Greg could easily tell that she wasn't believing what she was saying.

"You know I'm right, so please I am begging you to help me get out of here and back to the people **I** love." He begged.

"I want to…but I can't." She replied.

"Fine then, but do me one favor, if I do die again don't let them bring me back because I would rather die then become the monster the General wants me to be." Greg meant what he said; even though he would never see Nick again, he didn't want to live a life where he wasn't himself.

"Hey enough chatting! Dr. Wesley needs to speak with you." One of the guards shouted over at her.

The woman nodded, looking back at Greg. "I wish there was something I could do to help you," She whispered.

Greg trudged closer to the intercom and whispered back.

"Tell Nicholas Stokes, of the Las Vegas Crime Lab . . . that I'm sorry I couldn't get back to him . . . and that I love him," He said, holding back the tears that wanted to escape. He knew that the possibility of him ever seeing Nick again was 1 in a million, and if he did turn into a monster or was killed he wanted Nick to know how much he cared for him and always would, even in death.

"I'll tell him . . . I promise." She replied, stepping away from the intercom and turned the machine off, walking away from the cell with a revelation of what she had to do.

~Outside Nick's apartment building~

Nick had just finished questioning the witness when he received some very good news from Brass. Sean had been found. Apparently after selling Greg, Sean had gone back to his apartment and was planning on skipping town with half a billion dollars, but luckily they had caught him just as he was trying to climb into a taxi.

Nick was now on his way back to the lab to question Sean himself. Nick was still concerned that Sean would find a way to escape, since he did have the ability of shifting, but he was hoping that Sean was smart enough to realize that even if he did escape, his face would be on wanted ad's everywhere and would realize that staying put would be the smartest idea.

Nick entered the lab and hurried past everyone to get the interrogation room Brass was in, waiting for Nick to arrive so he could begin the questioning.

He entered the room, Sean and Brass both looking up at him. "Good, now we can start." Brass said, turning back to Sean who had a smug smile on his face. Nick took his seat next to Brass and folded his arms across his chest, glaring Sean down whose smile only widened.

"Hello again Nick by the way, how's the head?" He asked condescendingly.

"Nothing compared to the way you're going to feel if you don't tell me where Greg is." Nick replied in an angry tone.

Sean sat back in his seat and popped his neck. "I guess we're going to be here for a while then . . . because I'm not telling you squat!" He replied with a smug grin.

"Oh you are going to tell me Sean, because if you don't, it is in my jurisdiction to arrest you for breaking into this crime lab and stealing evidence and as I recall this will be your third strike." Nick placed a manila file on the metal table in front of him, flipping the file open to show that it was Sean's criminal record.

"Took me a while to dig this up, but I got to say the time was worth it! You were first arrested for battery assault then arrested again for robbing a bank with a loaded weapon. You have over a hundred aliases and it would appear that you're wanted in several states too. I'm willing to cut you a deal, tell me where Greg is and I can have your sentence shortened." Nick bargained.

Sean's smug smile had disappeared and had reappeared on Nick's face.

In an instant Sean had jumped out of his seat and attempted to swing at Nick. The guard in the room dashed to Sean and held him down to the floor. Nick walked over to Sean and squatted down beside him.

"Didn't that look like an attempted assault on a police officer Brass?" Nick asked.

"I would say so Nick, and we've got footage to prove it." He replied with a smile. Nick looked down at Sean and smiled wider.

"Looks like you just got your third strike buddy!" He smirked, looking up at the guard. "Take him to a cell and have at least four guards guarding him, just in case he tries to escape." The guard nodded, lifting Sean up from the ground.

Sean struggled as he was dragged away from Nick and just as he was about to be escorted out of the room he broke. "Okay! I'll tell you whatever the fuck you want!" Nick smiled and looked over at Brass who was smiling too.

"Seat him back down, we're not done with him yet." Nick ordered. The guards did as they were told, handcuffing Sean back to the table.

Nick and Brass sat back down on the opposite side. "Now that you're finally cooperating we can get down to business."

**A/N: There you have it chapter 11! I hope you enjoyed it because if you did please, please review! Because reviews motivate me to write faster! **

**Also I only recieved 1 single review for the last chapter guys so please if you do happen to read this chapter please oh please take the time to write a review! I'm begging you!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thanks for all the help Holly you're the best!**

~After Interrogation~

When the interrogation was over Nick was not overly pleased. The only information Sean had been able to give them was the name of the buyer; a General Thomas and a phone number that he had been using to call him. They might be able to use the number, but the General had most likely disposed of the phone by now and the name was unreliable because they had no clue if it was an alias or not.

The General hadn't given Sean any useful information as to where he would be keeping Greg because he didn't trust Sean enough, which was understandable.

Nick was not feeling very confident right now; they barely had any evidence and what little evidence they did have was still not enough to bring them any closer to finding Greg.

Korey was waiting in the break room with Catherine, Warrick and Sara going over the evidence they did have with Korey occasionally filling in the blanks for them as they were still a little hazy about the whole 'shifting' thing, but they were beginning to warm up to the idea.

Just as Nick was about to enter the break room to show them his own findings, his phone suddenly went off. He plucked the device from his side pocket, seeing it was the receptionist at the front desk.

"Stokes." He answered out of habit.

"Nick, there's a Tracy Calligher here who says she has a message for you from Greg." She informed him, eyeing the nervous woman stood in front of her.

"I'll be right there," without saying goodbye he snapped his phone shut and hurried off towards the reception area, where he saw a young woman nervously fiddling with the straps of her purse. He walked over to her, making her stop her nervous habit to look up at him.

"Are you Nick?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I am. You said you have a message for me from Greg?" Nick asked anxiously, hoping that she was going to tell him that Greg was alive and well, along with the directions to get to him.

"Greg told me to tell you that he's sorry and that…he loves you," She quoted back from Greg's words to her.

For a few moments neither said anything, until Nick broke the silence.

"I-Is he…okay?" He choked out.

"Last I saw him he was…very angry, but he was alive." She assured him, purposely leaving out that he had also been shocked to death.

"Can you tell me where he's being kept?" He asked with anticipation, hoping that this was the lead that would bring him to Greg.

She hesitated on answering him, knowing her family could be killed if she gave him that information, along with herself for that matter.

"Please, if you've talked to Greg and know he's alive then you have to know where he is. I'm begging you! If you know where Greg is, you _have_ to tell me!" Nick desperately pleaded.

"Can we talk someplace more…private?" She whispered as if General Thomas was listening in on their conversation.

"Yeah of course, follow me." He led her down the hallway, leaving behind a confused receptionist. He brought her to an empty interrogation room, sitting down across the table from her. She looked around the room nervously as if she was a suspect. "Sorry this was the only private room I could find. You don't have to be nervous, you're not in trouble." He assured her.

She nodded then set her purse down on the table, making herself more comfortable. "Greg is being held at an airplane hangar in the Las Vegas International airport." Nick was about to get his phone out to call Grissom, but she grabbed his wrist, causing him to look back at her shocked.

"You can't just burst in there guns blazing! General Thomas has guards with the latest firearms surrounding the entire hangar and they have been ordered to shoot any unauthorized personal on sight, but even if you do somehow manage to get inside, you still have twenty other guards to deal with." She warned him.

"I know for a fact that Brass and his men are very well trained and will be able to handle this." He assured her.

"That may be true, but you don't know the General; for every plan that goes wrong he has another waiting in line and I can tell you with the up most certainty that he'll most likely already have boarded Greg on a jet that would be headed to a military station where he could finish his work." She said, staring at Nick meaningfully.

"I've already lost him once and I'm so close to getting him back, I can't just let this opportunity pass by." He speed dialed Grissom, relaying the information he had received back to him.

While Nick was talking to his supervisor Grissom, Tracy thought back to her last conversation with Dr. Wesley (Dr. Needles).

~Flashback~

She walked over to Dr. Wesley, who was hard at work going over Greg's blood sample.

"You wanted to see me Dr. Wesley?" She asked.

Dr. Wesley turned around, removing his glasses to look at her. He was a scrawny 65 year old man with thinning white hair, clothes that looked like they belonged on an episode of 'leave it to beaver' and facial features, which on a normal basis, would be kind, reminding you of a caring doctor.

"Yes Tracy, since our last attempt at harnessing the subject's abilities went a little hectic. I was thinking it was time that we move on to a more drastic measure." He stood up from his stool, walking over to a cupboard.

"What did you have in mind?" She asked cautiously, not liking where this conversation was going. The doctor opened up the cupboard, reaching inside for a white container on the top shelf.

"Its still in the testing phase at the moment, but what it's designed to do is completely shut down a subject's emotion and make it so that they will do anything they are told, without question." He explained to her as he brought the container down.

He turned to face her with the container and pried the lid off, reaching inside, bringing out a small computer chip. "The other scientists have devised a mechanism that we will use to connect the subject's brain to the chip in the computer. Now all that's left is to perfect the program, which shouldn't take more than a few more weeks at the most." Dr. Wesley said, admiring the chip in his hands.

Tracy had no words to describe what she felt after hearing what they had planned to do to Greg; anger, sorrow and fear. Anger at herself for being a part of this twisted, cruel experiment; sorrow after remembering Greg's pleas to help him and she refused him help and finally fear for Greg's life and what he would become.

"Sounds like we'll have a soldier for the General in no time." She finally said.

"Not a soldier Dr. Galigher, a God!" He said with a faraway look in his eyes.

A god? More like a monster! She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Dr. Wesley thought he was helping some kind of hero, but she knew that they were really creating a monster, just like Greg had said.

She needed to put a stop to this madness now!

She thanked Dr. Wesley but before she stepped out quickly grabbed an empty syringe and hid it in her lab coat pocket and calmly walked out of the room, making her way back to the room where Greg was being held.

As she walked in she took out a pen and a pad of paper, quickly writing a message down. As she proceeded off towards the cell, she was stopped by the two guards.

"What is your business here Miss?" Asked one of the guards.

"I need to take another sample of blood for Dr. Wesley." She explained, hoping they wouldn't see through the lie.

The guards turned to each other and seemed to be having a silent conversation. It appeared they had come to an agreement when they both nodded their heads, looking back at her.

"Okay, but make it quick!"

"Of course." She nodded, walking off to the door leading into the cell with the two guards on either side of her with their weapons drawn.

Both guards typed in the command code to open the door, making the door buzz, meaning it was open. A guard pushed the door opened and they walked inside the cell.

~Greg's POV~

Greg had been trying to get some sleep when he heard a buzz echo through the room. He opened his eyes and turned his head to the left, seeing the same doctor as before and the two guards who were guarding his cell, cautiously entering his cell. He sat up and the two guards lifted their weapons slightly, trained them directly on him.

"Hello Mr. Sanders, I'm here to take another blood sample." She walked towards him, with the guards still on either side of her, stopping in front of him.

"And that requires Jarhead 1 and Jarhead 2? I'm already chained up, the worst I could do is trip and land on you." Greg remarked.

"It's just a safety precaution."

"Of course it is." He sarcastically replied. He held his arms out in front of him, exposing his forearms. "Take your pick."

Dr. Galigher stepped closer towards him as the Jarheads continued to train their weapons on him. As Dr. Galigher was taking the cap off the syringe she discreetly reached into her lab coat pocket, retrieving the note and pen. She leaned forward with the syringe, pen and paper in hand, sliding the needle into Greg's left forearm.

Greg gasped from the sudden pain, staring intently up at her, wondering what she was planning. Dr. Galigher pretended to be resting her hand on Greg's shoulder, but really dropped the pen and paper behind his back.

When the vial was filled she took the needle out and placed a band aid over the needle mark on his arm. "That should be enough, thank you for your cooperation Mr. Sanders." She said standing up in an upright position.

"No, thank you." Greg replied, with an undertone message.

She nodded and walked out of the room with the two guards behind her.

The two guards took their posts again and Dr. Galigher was walking towards the door out of the room, before she left she turned back to the cell and gave Greg a small smile then left.

~End Flashback~

"Miss. Galigher."

She was snapped out of her flashback, looking across the table at Nick who had a concerned look on his face. "I'm sorry for spacing out I was just remembering something, something you should really know about." She insisted.

"I'm listening." Nick replied, leaning forward with his hands clasped together on the table, having put his phone away a few moments ago.

"General Thomas's lead scientist, Dr. Wesley, and his team of scientists have devised a program that will hook up to Greg's brain and ultimately make him an unemotional zombie. By doing this they're hoping that they can tell him to do anything they want, without him questioning them. I'm hoping that Greg follows the plan that I gave him so that he'll at least have a fighting chance." She answered.

"What was your plan?" Nick asked, hoping it wasn't a plan that would get Greg killed.

~Greg's cell~

After waiting a little while he noticed that the guards were starting to drift off from not having a break for the past 12 hours. This was when he laid back down on the cot and pulled the pen and note up to his face. He un-crumpled the note and read what it said:

_Use tip of pen to deactivate electrical shock mechanism on restraints by twisting the tip into the center chain in the middle of the hand restraints that has the red beeping light in the middle. _

_Good Luck,_

_Tracy._

So she really was on his side? Either that or this was a trap…but be it a trap or not he was going to do whatever he could to get out of here.

Doing as she instructed he took the cap off the pen and located the beeping light in the center of his wrist. It took some effort, but he managed to maneuver the tip of the pen into the middle of the chain and twisted until he heard a satisfying click and hissing sound, signaling that the system was off. He had a few seconds to think that the restraints they devised were pretty crappy if he was able to shut them off with the tip of a pen. But on closer inspection he saw that he had not completely turned the mechanism off because there was a faint red glow coming from the middle of the chains. Guess they weren't off after all, just suppressed.

Taking his chance he sprang up from the cot and walked over to stand in the center of the cell.

Everyone had said that his telekinesis ability came from being under stress so he was going to have to focus on something that would really get his heart pumping.

The one thought that came to mind made his heart clench and he knew that it was the memory he was going to have to focus on, because it was the strongest emotional trauma he could think of; the memory of Nick holding the gun under his chin and the tears that were raining down his face.

Focusing on that memory alone, he closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel his body starting to tremble and by the small shocks he was receiving he knew that his method was working.

Stronger and stronger the emotional stress became and he could feel the power building within him.

The guards must have noticed what he was doing because he could hear the door to his cell opening and the commanding voices of the guards.

"Stop what your doing or we'll shoot!" Threatened a guard, Greg heard the trembling in the undertones and knew that the guard was scared out of his mind.

Greg opened his eyes and looked at the guards in front of him. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face.

"Have a nice flight." **(Corny I know but I just had to say it!)**

With a burst of power that literally shot out of him in waves, colliding against the two guards who flew back and smacked against the walls of the cell, knocking them out. Greg trudged over to the two fallen men and got down on his knees, rather awkwardly from being restrained by the ankles to his wrists, and searched their clothing for keys to the restraints. He found what he was looking for in the coat pocket of the man who had threatened to shoot him.

Taking the key he slid it into the restraints at the key sized hole on the sides of the cuffs. The pitching squall of an alarm went off and he knew he didn't have very long before a swarm of military soldiers came so he stalked out of the room.

As soon as he walked out of the room he was met with a group of soldiers who had come to find out what had set the alarm off.

"Freeze!" One of them shouted, but there was no way Greg was going to freeze.

Once again focusing, he managed to have the energy come up quicker and the effect was the soldiers in front of him rolling down the hall and stopping at the end of the hallway. They were in too much of a daze to pick up their weapons and fire so they were forced to watch as Greg walked past them and continued on his mission to find and kill the man who was the reason for his torment.

The General.

Greg found his way to the base of the hangar, stopping in the middle of the hangar with a crazed looked in his eyes.

"Show you're fucking face General!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Like clockwork Greg found himself being surrounded by soldiers with all their weapons trained on him. He looked around at them and shouted one last time. "Show your face you coward!"

"I'm right here Mr. Sanders."

~Nick and everyone else in the briefing room~

After finding out where Greg was being kept and a few other details, like what the hell those lunatics were doing to him. Nick had gathered everyone in the briefing room to discuss a plan on how to get Greg back. Tracy had gone home, back to Mississippi to get away from the horrendous job that she had been doing and to hug her family so tight like it was the end of the world.

"Now that we know where Greg is being kept we have to make a fool proof plan on getting him out of there. Nick, Warrick and Catherine are going to take one of the TAHOES and Sara, Korey and I are going to take the other. Brass and his men are going to be leading the way and as soon as we reach the hangar, we are going to wait until SWAT is in position before storming into the building and finding Greg. I'm going to warn everyone now that what may find is not going to be pretty. Korey I'm going to need you to stay in the van and remain in there because you're a civilian, but if we need your help someone will come out and get you. Does everyone understand?" Grissom asked them all.

Everyone nodded in understanding.

"I need to know what we could possibly be dealing with Korey." He requested, turning to her.

Korey hesitated on answering and when she did she met him full on. "I'm not going to lie to you; Greg could be dead by the time we get there…or worse." Nick looked down at the table, his hands clenched to fists beneath it.

"But he could also be fighting. From past experience when Greg became extremely agitated or angry he became a completely different person, a very dangerous person, so I would advise everyone to have their weapons ready, because he'll most likely not recognize you and with his father not here to stop him." She looked directly at Nick when she spoke again. "If we're already too late and Greg is…completely gone, we're going to have to put him down permanently." she stated.

Nick squeezed his eyes shut, squeezing his fists so hard that his knuckles actually popped, but he didn't even notice the pain, because the pain in his heart was even worse. He didn't have it in him to kill Greg; he loved him too damn much! But deep down he knew that Greg would want him to put him out of his misery as sick as it sounded, but he knew for a fact that Greg would not want to live a life where he did nothing but kill.

"Now that everyone has they're assignments let's head out!"

~Back in the hangar~

Greg whipped around and found the General had entered the circle, standing not three feet away from him.

Without another word Greg lifted his hands and before the soldiers could get a shot off, Greg sent them flying back and they were either knocked out cold or too disoriented to get back up.

The General actually had a look of panic across his features before he schooled it back into indifference, snatching his gun out of his holster, aiming it right for Greg.

Greg simply laughed and smacked the gun out of his hand, grabbing him by the throat, cutting off his air supplies. The General looked deep into Greg's dark eyes, terrified to see that Greg's eyes were almost completely black and he could swear that he saw the gates of hell burning in his irises.

"I'm going to enjoy strangling the life out of you." Greg hissed in his face. The General's eyes practically popped out of his eye sockets and his face was starting to turn a nice blue-magenta.

While this was going on the entire hangar was shaking like a jumping house at a child's birthday party, while the scientists and some cowardly soldiers were running for their lives.

Greg didn't notice any of this going on, he was too far gone in his mind to even comprehend that he was about to commit murder and the fact that the hangar was in danger of collapsing right on top of them.

"You wanted a monster General, well here's your monster!" With one final squeeze the General's neck was broken in Greg's hand, carelessly dropping his body to the ground beneath him.

The few soldiers that stayed behind watched in horror as their General was killed, raising their weapons, aiming for his murderer.

Greg stared down at the General in morbid fascination until he heard the first click of a firearm. He looked up, glancing round at the weapons aimed upon him

It was only a millisecond later that they opened fire, giving Greg only a millisecond to duck to the ground. In a moment of desperation Greg managed to make all their weapons rise up from their arms and float all the way up to the top of the hangar, where debris was starting to come down in chunks from the quaking building.

Seeing as they had no weapons to fight this monstrosity with, they only had one option: Run like hell!

All the soldiers dashed out of the hangar like the cowards they were, leaving Greg standing alone in the middle of a slowly collapsing hangar, stood over the dead body of one General Malcolm Thomas.

As Greg was staring down at the General, Dr. Wesley had managed to sneak up behind him, holding a sedative that would knock him out. Just as he was about to plunge the needle into Greg's neck, Greg whipped around and snapped his neck to the side. Dr. Wesley collapsed right next to the General; both with unstaring eyes looking up at the heavens.

But there was no way that those two would be going to heaven!

It was with this last kill that something in Greg snapped and he shouted to the heavens above in rage. He had become what he swore he would never become, a monster!

Two people he had killed, albeit both men in ways deserve their deaths, but he had been the one to inflict the death sentence on them. The last time he had killed someone was Demetrius James, but that had been in self-defense, but this time he had killed in pure, blinded rage and the worst part of it all was that he had enjoyed it. Watching the life leave their eyes, their last sputtering breath, snapping of their necks and their bodies thumping to the ground. Never to move again.

With all the rage he was feeling the hangar shook even more and the walls were actually starting to collapse in on themselves and the time the building had left standing was only seconds.

Greg had now sunk down to his knees, still shouting, his screams horse but agonizing, revealing all the anger, sadness and regret he was feeling at what he had become. Some might say what he did was right, those two men deserved to die, and yes Greg would be inclined to agree with them, but he didn't want to have the guilt of two more deaths on his hands. One was all ready enough to make him have nightmares of the blank expression on Demetrius' face and the never ending beep of the heart monitor that had been hooked up to him.

But the worst part had been the screams and hateful words Demetrius' mother and brother had thrown at him. The word Aaron James had called him was a 100% true now:

'_Killer'_

And with that last thought, floating through his grief stricken mind the walls of the hangar finally collapsed and the severely damaged roof fell right on top of him.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I really encourage any who read to review because reviews motivate me to write better and faster so please review! I am begging you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the great advice and help with this chapter Holly!**

~The arrival at the Hangar~

Destruction.

That is what the CSI's found. What used to be the hangar was now nothing more than a pile of debris. Nick was the first to shoot out of the vehicle, dashing towards the edge of the debris, shouting and screaming Greg's name.

"Greg!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, desperately praying to god that he would hear Greg's reply. He feared the worst that Greg was caught under it all somewhere.

Grissom, Sara, Catherine, Warrick, Korey and Brass all stood behind Nick, looking at the destruction in despair. If Greg had been inside when the building collapsed the only chance of survival would have been if a miracle occurred. But miracles were things that only happened in the movies and the bible.

"Greg." Nick whispered sadly as he sank down to his knees in despair. Tears were falling down his face, landing in small droplets on the pavement. His face wasn't the only one with grief pooling down it; everyone, even Brass was crying for the lost ex-lab rat.

"I'm so sorry Nick." Korey whispered softly through her tears.

Nick didn't respond, continuing to look down at the ground. No! Greg couldn't be gone. He just couldn't be. This wasn't how it was supposed to end! He was supposed to tell Greg that he loved him, give him the most passionate kiss that he could and ever would give someone then be together until their last dying breath.

"We need to call search and rescue. I know it may be a long shot but Greg could still be alive or if not then we need to try and..." Brass couldn't finish his sentence, but they all knew and feared what he was going to say 'recover the body'.

Finding the strength Nick rose up from the ground and looked at the expanse of debris in front of him. As if in a trance Nick took a step forward and started maneuvering himself through the debris, staring at the wreckage all around him; looking and listening for Greg. Behind him he could hear two voices. One was Brass talking on the phone to search and rescue, but the other he couldn't quite make out; stopping, he turned around and saw that Korey had followed him.

"Greg did this, didn't he?" He asked her, remembering the state his living room had been when Greg had unleashed his abilities.

Korey nodded in agreement. "Something in Greg must have snapped." She walked over to Nick and stood in front of him.

"I'm sure if he's...really gone he went out fighting. I may not have known him long, but I knew he was a fighter and he used everything in him to give these bastards hell!" She said confidentially.

Nick hoped she was right. If Greg was really...gone; which he refused to believe, he hoped like hell that Greg had given the bastards who dared to take Greg away from him hell!

As Nick was standing dejectedly in the middle of the debris he could have sworn that he heard a muffled groan of pain coming from the pile of debris next to him.

"Greg?" He asked hopefully, moving to where he thought he heard the noise, getting down on his knees to search the rubble. Another groan answered him; Nick started digging with urgency, not even noticing his hands were cut and bleeding from the sharp edges of the fragments of rubble.

"Greg!"

By this time everyone had joined him, helping a desperate Nick to dig through the wreck. Grissom was the only one with enough common sense to pull Nick away and inspect his scraped and bloody hands.

"You need to have these bandaged up Nick, before they get infected." Grissom advised, holding on tightly to the struggling Texan.

"I'll have them checked out later Griss; right now I have to find Greg! He's close Griss, I can feel him! Now let me go!" Nick begged, continuing to struggle against him.

Grissom was about to reply when a shout came from Warrick. "I found him!" He shouted, kneeling down in the place he had been previously standing.

Nick practically shoved Warrick out of the way, looking down at the uncovered wreckage beneath him. He looked down seeing Greg laying on his stomach with his face almost smashed into the ground.

Nick reached out with a trembling hand, pressing his shaky fingers to Greg's neck for a pulse. He feared the worst, but was thanking god almighty that he found one; it was weak but he had a pulse and that's all he cared about. Greg was still with him. He wanted to pull Greg out of the debris and embrace him but an entire building had collapsed on him so his injuries could be very, very serious, so he held himself back and reluctantly got out of the way to let the paramedics do their job.

"What's his name?" Asked one of the paramedics as they readied their equipment.

"Greg. Greg Sanders." Grissom answered since Nick was unable to answer from the trauma of the despair.

The paramedics carefully lifted Greg out of the wreckage of the building. Nick had to look away when he saw how banged up Greg was. How he had felt after bandaging up Greg after performing amateur surgery was nothing compared to how he was feeling now. Hope, sorrow and hatred mixed together to create one miserable tunnel of emotions.

Greg's face, neck and arms had multiple bruises along with a nasty cut in the back of his head. One of the paramedics held a pad of gauze to the cut as they lifted him up onto the body board and wrapped a brace around his collar. The paramedic then taped the gauze down. His left arm was bent at an odd angle and there was a long jagged cut down his right leg from the hip to his knee.

There were many other injuries but Nick could no longer point them out to himself.

A paramedic checked Greg's pulse, finding that it was weak. He placed an oxygen mask over Greg's mouth then hurried over to the awaiting ambulance.

"What hospital is he being taken to?" Shouted Grissom over the commotion of the search and rescue team who had just arrived.

"Mercy General!" The ambulance doors were closed and the ambulance sped off to save Greg's life.

Nick was still in the same spot as before, in shock. He was so happy and stunned at the same time that they had finally found Greg. He couldn't tell if this was a dream or not, but he hoped it wasn't because he would be crushed if he suddenly woke up in the break room and it turned out they were still no closer to finding Greg. He knew that his heart couldn't take much more breaking.

He was startled out of his state by Warrick.

"Come on Nick, we're going to meet Greg at the hospital." Warrick said, helping Nick up from the ground. He followed them to one of their vehicles and got inside.

Korey sat down next to him. "Don't worry Nick; he's going to be okay." She assured him. Nick nodded his head. The car ride was silent except for the speeding traffic and the squealing of the flashing lights on the vehicle.

~Hospital~

When they arrived at the hospital Nick was once again the first to leap out of the vehicle and dash inside the hospital, with his badge already out by the time he reached the counter. Warrick and the others were right behind him with their badges as well.

"I'm Nicholas Stokes from the Crime Lab. I need to know the condition on Greg Sanders, he was just admitted in from a collapsed building." Nick rushed, showing the nurse his badge.

"Greg Sanders...oh yes he's being treated as we speak so it could be a while before you can see him though." She informed him.

"Do you know if it's serious?" Nick asked panicked.

"I'm sorry; you're going to have to ask his doctor, Doctor Connor." She replied.

"Thank you, we'll be in the waiting room." Grissom led everyone into the waiting room and sat down in the uncomfortable plastic chairs.

And the waiting game began.

~Four Hours Later~

No one except Brass, who hadn't gotten a wink of sleep for the last few days, were asleep when Dr. Connor entered the waiting room.

"Is there a Nicholas Stokes here?" He asked.

Nick shot up from his seat and stepped forward. "That's me! How is Greg doc? Is he going to be okay?" Nick asked anxiously.

"He's under observation right now, but we're confident he's going to pull through. He had three cracked ribs, multiple fractures in his left leg, his right arm was broken, numerous cuts and bruises all over his body and his quadriceps muscles were badly damaged from the wound to his thigh. Now the wound was infected from the sawdust and gravel that was imbedded in the wound. We have him on morphine for the pain and antibiotics to try and get rid of the infection." Dr. Connor informed the anxious people before him.

"Can we see him?" Nick asked desperately, needing to see Greg again to prove to himself that Greg really was back with them, hoping that was the way he was going to stay.

"Yes of course, but I'm going to have to insist at only one visitor at a time. We don't want to over excite him." He advised them.

Before Nick could say anything Catherine volunteered him.

"Nicky'll go first." She firmly stated. Of course no one was about to argue with her because they all knew that Nick was the person Greg needed right now.

"All right then follow me. He's in room 23A." Dr. Connor led Nick down the hall towards Greg's room.

"I'm aware of what happened the last time Greg was in our care and I can assure you that security has since been improved. We have two guards stationed in front of his door, around the clock." The doctor assured him as they approached Greg's room.

"Regardless of what happened to Greg last time, thank you for everything you've done for Greg." Nick thanked him.

The doctor smiled then stopped in front of Greg's door. "This is it and once again I apologize profusely for the events that transpired during Greg's last stay." The doctor apologized again.

Nick knew it was rather rude but he left the doctor standing in the hallway, finally entering Greg's room, closing the door right behind him. He knew from the doctor's description of Greg's injuries what awaited him inside. When he finally allowed himself to look up, it wasn't going to be a pretty sight so he took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for the sight that awaited him.

He looked at the bed and the only relief he had was that Greg was actually in bed and not missing like last time. With that being said with relief came grief; Greg was lying on the bed with two IV lines hooked up to him. One pumping morphine into him and the other antibiotics. He also had an extensive amount of bandages covering his arms, four to five small bandages on his face and neck; there was most likely more bandaging on his chest and torso along with the lower parts of his body. His left leg was up in a sling with a brace and his right arm was in a bright blue cast.

He approached the bed and pulled a chair up to Greg's bedside then sat down. He took Greg's hand in his, running circles on his palm with his thumb.

"Come on Greg, wake up please! Show me those beautiful brown eyes." He pleaded. As if God was answering his prayers the hand he held twitched and Greg's eyes began to flutter open. "That's it baby! Come back to me!" He encouraged, now leaning forwards in his seat.

Greg's eyes finally fluttered open fully; his vision was that of a drunken haze. Beeping machines and the familiar murmurings of a Texan drawl was what met him. Looking to his right was that hazy outline of a man, but Greg knew who it was even with his foggy vision.

"Hi." He croaked. Nick spotted a glass of water that had a straw already in it. He helped Greg sit up before reaching for the glass, slowly helping him sip from the cup for some much needed water.

"Thanks." Greg said his voice much clearer now. Nick smiled and placed the cup back on the side table, giving his full attention to Greg.

"How are you feeling?" Nick asked, prepared to page a nurse if Greg showed any signs of discomfort.

"A little numb." He replied, making himself a little more comfortable.

"The doctor gave you some morphine to help with the pain, so that might be why." Nick explained.

Greg noticed Nick's bandaged hand and became concerned. "What happened to your hands Nick?" Greg asked anxiously, his heart noticeably increasing.

Nick noticed Greg's distressed heart rate and quickly calmed his nerves.

"I did a number on my hands when I was digging you out. It's nothing to worry about Greggo; the doctor said that my hands will be fine in a couple of weeks." Nick calmed him down, relaxing when he saw that Greg's heart rate was returning to normal.

Nick waited a little while before asking the question he needed answering. "What happened at the hangar Greg?"

Greg didn't respond for a few moments because an inner turmoil was going on inside his head. He was afraid to tell him, he knew that even though General Malcolm and Dr. Needles, along with a handful of soldiers and scientists were dead, he still didn't feel safe in telling him. He knew he would have to tell him eventually but he was afraid of the repercussions it would have. He knew that he already knew about shifting and that was bad enough, but that wasn't what he was afraid of; he was afraid of what he would think of him after he told him he had killed two, possibly more, people.

A monster!

An unlovable, tainted monster! If he were to tell he he would not only lose one of his best friends but the love of his life as well. He would rather have his skin melted off, heal, then melt off again in a never ending cycle rather than let that happen.

His silence had Nick worried that he had gone into a state of shock.

"Greg?" Nick said concerned, ready to page a nurse if the need arose.

Coming to a decision he looked up from his lap and forced himself to look Nick in the eye.

"When I woke up I was strapped down, like some kind of dangerous criminal and there were all these people in lab coats surrounding me. General Malcolm came and told Doctor Needles to begin the 'experiment' that pretty much consisted of electrocuting me until I was under so much stress that everything and almost everyone in the room was lifted up in the air like all of the gravity in the room was turned off. I don't remember what happened next, but I do remember this fuzzy feeling building up in my body, until my body went numb and everything went black. When I came out the blackness I was still strapped down, but soon they chained me down with these restraints that prevented me from using my abilities. I wound up in this cell that looked like a giant glass dome. Not long after I met a scientist and at first I hated her…but then she helped me escape." Greg took a moment to take a breather before he continued his tale.

"After the restraints were suppressed I knew that the only way I would be able to escape was if I made myself imagine the most horrific image I could and...that was one of the hardest images I ever had to imagine, just...talking about it now makes my heart break and my blood boil." Greg took another break to get his heart rate and emotions under control before he continued.

Nick wasn't going to ask what that image was because he could tell how stressful it was, but he knew that if it had that big of an effect on Greg then it was probably one of the darker times in his life.

"The guards came into the cell and I sent them flying backwards where they knocked themselves out. I took the keys to the restraints and freed myself. After I dealt with some more guards I made it to the base of the hangar and that's when I came across a ring of guards that surrounded me. I demanded to see the General and the bastard walked right up behind me and when he got his gun out I forced the gun out of his hand and his guards raised their weapons, but before they could get a shot off I pushed them away then I-I..." Greg choked on his words, unable to tell him what happened next.

Nick noticed that Greg was having a panic attack of sorts and squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"You don't have to tell me the rest right now Greg. You've just been through a hell of a lot and I can understand you needing to get some much needed rest." Nick said understandingly.

"No, no I need to tell you, I...need you to know what I did." Greg insisted. Greg leaned back in his bed and looked up at the ceiling, not being able to make eye contact when he told him the rest of the story.

"When I had General Malcolm by the throat and I looked deep into his eyes I felt such rage that, almost in a hypnotic state, snapped his neck and his body just...crumpled to the ground and his eyes...oh god his eyes! Were just staring up at ceiling with no life in them." Tears ran freely down his cheeks and Nick pulled him back into a comforting hug, rubbing his back soothingly and shushing him.

Greg continued to look up at the ceiling, as if trying to see what General Malcolm saw.

"It was self defense Greg. After everything that...bastard put you through. It's a natural reaction to want to make sure he couldn't hurt you again." Nick comforted him.

"I also killed his main scientist, I called him Doctor Needles. He was trying to sneak up behind me and inject something into me. It all happened so fast, one minute I'm looking down at Malcolm's body and the next thing I know Doctor Needles is dead at my feet from a broken neck that I...caused! When I realized what I did all these emotions rage, sorrow and fear washed over me and I knew right then that Malcolm had succeeded...I was a monster!" Greg whispered the last part and closed his eyes in self sorrow.

Nick couldn't believe what he was hearing; his beloved Greg believed he was a monster when that was a downright lie! In Nick's eyes Greg was an angel, a heartbreakingly beautiful angel who had been brought to him from some greater power above. He cupped Greg's cheek and brought his face down to eye level. Greg's eyes remained sealed shut. Gently running his thumb along Greg's cheek Nick leaned in and finally kissed the man he had been waiting for his entire life.

Greg gasped from the shock of feeling lips being pressed against his and the passion that was coursing through the heart stuttering kiss.

All too soon, for both of them, Nick pulled away and rested his forehead against Greg's.

"You're not a monster! You are a kind loving man and I love you with all my heart." He panted.

Greg opened his eyes and stared at Nick in shock. "But-"

Nick interrupted him with another kiss then pulled back and went back to stroking Greg's cheek with his thumb.

"Nothing you say or do will ever make me think of you as a monster or stop loving you. So if I ever find you self loathing or calling yourself a monster, I'll deny you a single touch for an entire month, and the torture will be equal on both sides so please don't make either of us go through that."

Greg leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on Nick's lips who smiled in bliss. "You really do love me don't you?" Greg said a little stunned.

"I do, so much, and if I have to keep convincing you of that fact until the day I die, so be it." Nick gleamed when saw that a small smile had graced Greg's features.

"You really think you can keep your hands off me for an entire month." Greg asked teasingly.

"Probably not, but I'm just gonna have to use all my will power not to." Nick chuckled, happy to see that the old Greg was slowly coming back.

"So I know this is a dumb question, but what are we?" Greg felt stupid as soon as the words left his mouth.

Nick just chuckled and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I was thinking boyfriend-boyfriend and if things go well a nice to trip to Canada and change that to life partners." Nick answered.

An even bigger smile inched onto Greg's face and even a hint of a blush escaped onto his cheeks.

"That sounds really nice." He smiled.

"Good because I have a feeling we're going to be together for a very, very long time." Nick said, not being able to resist, stole another breathtaking kiss.

"I could definitely get used to this." Greg said blissfully.

They both laughed and dreamed about their future together. Although in the back of Greg's mind he was still worrying that Nick would change his mind.

~Two Hours Later~

Nick looked down at his watch and saw that visiting hours were almost up.

"Guess I'd better let you get your rest." Nick stood up from his chair and the crinks out of his back. He smiled down at Greg then leaned down and planted a sweet kiss on his lips.

"I love you." Nick smiled softly.

"Love you too." Greg instinctively replied. Greg was saddened as he watched Nick walk towards the door. He couldn't let him leave. "Wait!" He called out.

Nick stopped and rushed back to Greg's side, taking his hand in his. "What's the matter? Are you in pain?" He asked frantically, casting a glance to Greg's heart rate.

"No, no, no I'm fine I just...don't want you to go." He confessed, feeling pathetic for being so clingy already.

"I don't want to go either but I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be kicked out but...maybe I could convince the nurses that I don't feel your safe here because of last time and that I should stay with you." Nick came up with.

"Oh you deviant you!" Greg smirked sarcastically.

Greg scooted over a little to make room for Nick. Nick sat down on the edge of the bed, untied his shoelaces and pulled the shoes off, not wanting to get any dirt on the bed sheets and anger the nurses. He lay down on the bed next to Greg, wrapping a protective arm around Greg.

Greg maneuvered himself so he was leaning up against Nick's chest.

"G'night Greg." Nick said kissing the top of his head.

"Goodnight Nick."

**A/N: Sorry it took so agonizly long to write this but I'm currently in a play and I don't have a lot of time to update this story. I hoped you liked this chapter so please review because every author loves reviews! So please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thanks for the help Holly, you're the best!**

~3 Months later~

It had been 3 months since they found Greg and three months since Greg and Nick had gotten together. Those three months had been the most blissful part of their lives so far and they both prayed for many more blissful experiences together.

Greg had moved into Nick's apartment; since it was bigger, about a month after getting together and had fun trying out his new bed with Nick; sure it had mainly been making out, but they did get to explore each other's bodies a little more.

Greg was still recovering from his injuries, mainly the jagged cut on his left leg. His arm had healed and his leg was in the slow process of healing. The brace had been taken off today and now he only had to deal with the itchy stitching on his leg that was covered by bandaging. The stitches were due to come out two weeks from now. Greg couldn't wait for that time to come because he really wanted to finally make love to Nick, since Nick had been persistent that they wouldn't have sex until the worst of his injuries were healed.

But the worst part of this three month was that it had been three months since he had to tell his mother that George Sanders was missing.

When the police and Graveyard Shift had arrived at the Sanctum they found nothing but an empty building. George Sanders and his followers had cleaned out and split town, leaving no trace of them behind.

Greg still remembered the conversation he had had with his mother when he had to call her and tell her that her husband was missing.

_~Flashback~_

_After getting a phone call from Nick telling him that his father was gone and the sanctum was completely empty, Greg sat down on the couch, knowing he had to call his mother, who was most likely already worrying about her husband who had failed to come home when he was supposed to._

_The phone felt 100 pounds heavier as he thought over how he was going to tell his mom that her husband was gone, wanted by the police and would most likely never be seen or heard from again._

_Greg slowly dialed his mothers number, hoping to say the right words to her as he patiently waited for her to pick up. _

_"This is the Sanders residence, Irene Sanders speaking." said the surprisingly cheerful voice of his mother, making it that little bit harder to tell her now she was in a good mood._

_"Hi mom." He softly spoke. _

_"Gregory! Oh hello darling, how are you?" she said, pleased to hear from her son after so long._

_Greg wanted to lie and say that he was doing great and then his mother would proceed to ask him about Nick. His mother had no idea that Greg had been in the hospital, per Greg's request, because he didn't want her to worry about him. He had called a week after being released from the hospital and told her that he and Nick had finally gotten together. She had been ecstatic that her baby boy had finally gotten the man of his dreams. She had also threatened to skin Nick alive if he hurt her son._

_"Not so good mom… look I really need to tell you something," Greg cautiously began._

_"What's wrong honey? Did that boy hurt you because if he did I'll get on a plane right now and-"_

_Greg cut her off before she could finish plotting Nick's gruesome demise. "No, no mom Nick and I are fine. What I called to tell you is that dad is missing and-" this time his mom cut him off._

_"Missing? But I just talked to him an hour ago. He said that he had decided to stay a few more days to spend some time with you." she said, a little confused but also concerned at the thought that her husband was missing. _

_Greg wasn't even surprised that his father had called his mother because that was something his father would do. "Did he tell you where he was?" _

_"No, but I did hear people talking in the background. Gregory Hojem Sanders if this is some kind of joke you are not going to be able to sit for an entire month!" Irene threatened, just like she used to when he was a child._

_"I would never joke about something like that mom, now please let me finish! Dad is missing and he's wanted by the police." Greg left out the reason for obvious reasons, but Irene Sanders demanded answers, especially when her loved ones were involved. _

_"Why are the police after him honey? What did he do forget to pay a parking ticket!" she exclaimed. _

_Greg braced himself for the hysteria and questions that were about to hit him. "He's wanted for murder." He told her with a nervous gulp. _

_There was silence on the other end that lasted for an entire minute, making Greg became concerned that his mother might have had a heart attack or something."Mom?" he asked concerned. _

_"M-murder? My husband, your father, committed murder! How could you even say something like that? If we were in the same room right now I would knock some sense into you boy! Murder! How dare you accuse him of that! Do you have any proof that he committed this alleged crime?" she ranted. _

_"He told me himself!" Greg practically shouted. He didn't mean to explode at her like that, but when his mother got worked up she generally worked up the people around her._

_There was another moment of silence and Greg felt like shit for yelling at her like that but he had gotten so agitated with her. "I'm going to hang up now and pretend that I never had this conversation with you." Irene Sanders was in denial and to be truthful he couldn't blame her, if roles had been reversed he would have been in denial as well. _

_"Mom you have to face the facts that dad isn't the man you thought he was." Greg insisted, not wanting her to hang up. _

_"Goodbye Gregory."_

_"Mom-" Greg tried by the line was disconnected and all he heard was the dial tone. _

_~End Flashback~_

Greg had called her several times after that but whenever he tried to bring up dad she would either come up with an excuse to hang up or laugh it off and start a completely different conversation.

He was now lying in bed with Nick when his phone rang again. They just finished a heavy make-out session where they left no part of their bodies untouched. Greg had his head resting on Nick's bare chest with Nick's arm wrapped around him.

Both men groaned in frustration at the sound of the ringing phone. Greg recognized the ringtone as his own, trying to reach out to get the infernal device, but Nick refused to relinquish his hold.

"Nicky, I have to answer the phone and in order to do that you have to let me go." Greg said with a slight giggle.

Nick's hold only tightened. "I'll never let you go Greg." He sleepily mumbled.

Greg kissed him then somehow managed to untangle himself enough to reach for the phone on the nightstand to answer it.

"Hello?" he answered sleepily.

"Hello Gregory," said an eerily familiar voice.

Any feelings of tiredness left Greg in one breath and he was soon wide awake. His breath caught in his throat and he noticeably stiffened against Nick's chest.

"Greg?" Nick said concerned, noticing the frightened expression on his face.

"D-dad?" he stuttered.

At hearing this Nick snatched the phone out of his boyfriend's hand. "Listen to me you fuckin' son-of-a-bitch! You leave Greg and me the hell alone and if I found out that you've even sneezed in his direction, I swear to god I will hunt you down and kill you!" he growled angrily.

"Such a temper Nicholas! No need to get angry. I simply wish to speak to my son." George spoke calmly, unfazed by Nick's threat.

"If you really think I'm going to let you talk to him you must have more than a few screws loose." Nick retorted. He was about to hang up but Greg grabbed his wrist.

"Let me talk to him." he said flatly.

"Do you really think that's a good idea Greg? After everything he put you through?" Nick was really against Greg talking to this man. He really wanted to hang up and keep him away from the bastard in order to protect his beloved Greg.

"I'll be okay Nick; I need to talk to him." Greg stated, reaching out for the phone.

Nick held onto the phone for a few more seconds before he reluctantly handed the phone over.

Greg brought the phone to his ear and spoke softly, "Hello dad."

"It's good to speak to you again Greg, I see you and Nick finally got together, congratulations!" George applauded.

"Cut the bullshit and tell me why you called!" Greg demanded.

"I'm calling to tell you that you are to come down the sanctum; we need to discuss some things, mainly your future. And if you tell Nick about this meeting the man I have armed with a sniper currently has his gun trained on the back of Nick's head and he will fire at my command. If you don't believe me take a look in the mirror." George coldly stated.

Without turning his head to alert Nick he looked in the mirror that was on Nick's side of the bed. Sure enough there was a small red dot on the back of Nick's head.

"You are to come to the sanctum an hour after Nick has left for work if you tell Nick anything about our talk, my sniper will take him out." he threatened.

"I understand dad." Greg replied, putting on a calm facade so as not to alert Nick that something was wrong.

"Now I'm going to hang up the phone and you are going to tell Nick that I told you that I am going into hiding for a while until things calm down. Goodbye son."

"Goodbye dad." Greg heard the other line click and he canceled the call. Lowering the phone he placed the device back onto nightstand beside him and sat in silence.

"Greg, what did he say?" Nick asked, pulling Greg back into his arms.

Greg gulped down his nerves then flatly lied. "He was calling to tell me good luck in my life and that he was going to go into hiding for a little while until things calmed down so you don't have to worry, he's not going to bother us ever again." He wanted to tell him the truth but he could still see that sniper trained on the back of Nick's head.

Nick could tell that something was bothering him so he decided to press the matter. "What's wrong Greg, I can tell something's bothering you; I can see it in your eyes." Nick requested, needing Greg to tell him what was wrong so he could make it better.

"Nothing's wrong babe, everything is great," to distract Nick he turned around in his arms and started kissing him on the lips then slowly started to make his way down.

"Greg...nhm...mmm...oh god." Nick's head flopped down onto the pillow and his eyes closed.

Greg continued to kiss his way down Nick's chest, but before he could go any further Nick pulled him back up, crashing their lips together and Greg responded eagerly.

Being careful of his injuries Nick maneuvered Greg so that Nick was now on top, claiming every inch of Greg's neck. Greg moaned and curled his hand in Nick's hair, pulling him up to capture his lips once again.

And for just a little while Greg could forget, just for a little while of how he would have to lie to Nick.

~One Hour Later~

Greg handed Nick his mug of blue Hawaiian and received a grateful kiss in thanks.

"Thanks hun, now remember to stay off your leg as much as possible." Nick protectively reminded him. "I don't want to have to take you back to the hospital again; heaven knows we've both seen enough hospital rooms in our time."

"Don't worry, you've ingrained that into my mind so even when I'm all healed I'm still going to remember." Greg replied wrapping his arms around Nick's neck, smiling up at his lover.

Nick smiled in return then leaned down to kiss him. "I love you." he beamed.

"Love you too." Greg snuck in another kiss then unwound his arms, taking a step back.

"You'd better get going or you'll be late, again." Greg said with a smirk.

"I seem to recall a certain distraction that got in my way." Nick teasingly retorted.

"You never can resist me!" Greg smugly replied.

"That goes both ways." Nick replied.

"Better get going before I come up with an excuse to keep you here then," Greg said, silently wishing he could keep Nick here longer, just so he would feel a little bit better with Nick safely in his sight.

"I'll see you later Greg." Nick finally left the apartment and the smile on Greg's face instantly faded.

Greg watched from the window as Nick got in his truck and drove off. He sadly walked away from the window and made his way back into the bedroom to get changed out of his pajama pants and into his street clothes.

When he was changed Greg left their apartment, locking the door behind him and walking off down the stairs towards his car. He was still able to drive because his right leg was the dominant one.

Getting into the car he closed the door and rested his hands on the steering wheel, sucking in a deep shaky breath. What was he doing? Going to meet the man who had basically blackmailed him into doing his dirty work and once again threatening Nick's life. He didn't even know what his father meant when he said 'discuss your future'. Sure he had his ideas but he really didn't want any of them to come true.

He was suddenly struck by a thought: What if he never sees Nick again? His father could be planning on knocking him out and taking him away or even killing him.

His hand reached into his pocket, snapping out his phone. He scrolled through his contacts on the screen, pausing as he tried to figure out who he was going to call?

He wanted to call Nick and tell him everything but that would put him in danger and he would never allow that to happen. He needed to call someone that he could trust and would do what was best for Nick…

Warrick!

Selecting Warrick's number he held the phone to his ear, patiently waiting for him to pick up. "Come on Warrick, pick up!" Greg pleaded as it continued to ring.

He finally picked up, making Greg sigh a breath of relief.

"Hey Greg, what's up?"

"Warrick, I need you to do something for me." Greg said.

Something in Greg's voice made Warrick uneasy. "Greg what's going on? Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"I can't really explain, but you may not be seeing me for a while so Nick's going to need someone to get him through the hard times and to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Greg said, paranoia making him look around at his surroundings for any black vans.

"Greg what are you talking about, your scaring me here!" Warrick said with a tinge of fear in his voice.

"I can't talk much longer but I need you to promise me that you'll never let Nick find out about this conversation. Thanks for everything Warrick. Goodbye." Greg ended the call and leaned back in his seat.

He then rolled down his window and chucked the phone out the window where it shattered on the road.

~Crime Lab Locker Room~

"Greg-" the conversation was cut off and the phone was lowered away from his ear. Warrick stared down at his phone in shock. What was Greg doing? What he planning on doing something stupid or was he just drunk dialing?

Panic surged through him when he decoded Greg's message. Wherever Greg was going there was a huge possibility that he wouldn't be coming back. Launching up from the bench, Warrick dashed off down the hallway, knocking into people and causing them to drop files.

"Sorry!" he called back, in too much of a hurry to go back to help them.

He made it to Archie's lab and surprised the computer tech, almost causing him to spill his coffee all over himself, from the sudden intrusion.

"What's up man? You look like you're being chased by crazed Klingon's." in fact Warrick did. His eyes were the size of tennis balls and he was breathing so hard that his chest looked like it was being inflated like a balloon.

"I need the location of the last received call on this cell phone!" Warrick said, handing the tech the phone.

Knowing better than to question the crazed looking CSI, he hooked the phone up and typed the command into the computer.

Warrick stood behind Archie's chair, staring intently at the screen.

The computer came up with an answer as a flashing red light and an address. "It came from a cell phone at 117 Plaza Avenue, weird isn't that Nick's place?" Archie said, looking up at the man behind him.

"Can you track that cell phone?" Warrick had his fingers crossed, praying they could track Greg.

Archie typed in another command then shook his head.

"Sorry man, the GPS in the phone has either been disabled or the phone is turned off." Archie announced.

"Dammit Greg!" Warrick cursed under his breath.

"Greg? Wait a second, why are you trying to track Greg's phone?" Archie asked, becoming concerned for his possibly lost friend.

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure the kid's in trouble and I need to find him before he does something stupid. Thanks for trying Arch."

Archie handed Warrick his phone back, watching him pocket the device. "Keep me updated, okay?" Archie requested.

"Yeah, okay." Warrick left the lab quickly, walking down the hall towards Grissom's office. Without knocking he barged inside, completely surprising Grissom who was working on his butterfly collection.

He looked up from his interrupted work, seeing the look of distress in his employee's eyes, along with the nervous rubbing of his hands. "Warrick, is something wrong?"

Closing the door behind him Warrick walked towards the desk, taking a seat in front of it.

"Greg's in trouble, or at least that's the way it sounded and I tried to have Archie trace his phone but Greg either turned it off or destroyed it, and I'm pretty sure it's the latter." Warrick said, his words stringing together from the stress of the situation.

"Slow down Warrick and take a deep breath. When did Greg call you?" he asked, going into investigator mode so as he could keep the distress he was feeling inside.

Warrick checked his phone and relayed the information to Grissom.

"Five minutes ago." he looked up from the device at Grissom.

Grissom took his glasses off and massaged his brow. "Call Brass and gather Catherine and Sara to the briefing room but send Nick to me." he requested, knowing that Nick would have to be in a private area because he was surely going to explode at the news of Greg in trouble.

Warrick stood up from the chair, leaning over the desk to look at Grissom. "I can't believe this is happening again Griss. We just got Greg back and he's been taken away from us again? It's not right!" Warrick shook his head then slowly turned to leave.

"You have to set your feelings aside Warrick, we're all emotionally involved in this one, especially Nick, and in order to find Greg we're going to need clear heads." Grissom informed him, looking up at Warrick.

"What if...what if we don't like what we find?" Warrick asked, without turning around.

Grissom was silent for a few moments before he spoke, choosing his words carefully. "We do everything in our power to find justice." he answered, hoping what Warrick voiced wouldn't be the outcome.

Warrick turned the handle and walked out of the office, his heart aching at what he was going to have to do.

~In Front Of The Sanctum~

He didn't get out of his car straight away, just sat in the car with his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel until they were in a death grip. It was almost as if his body was physically trying to stop him from leaving the car. Did his body know something horrible was going to happen?

"C'mon Greg, you have to go in there, if you don't it could cost you Nick!" he coached himself. His body still refused to move.

A sudden tapping on his window startled him. He looked to the left to see Toby glaring at him. Managing to un-grip his hands from the wheel, he rolled down the window and looked up at Toby who glared down at him menacingly.

"Hey Toby, how's the head?" he asked nervously.

Toby just glared in reply and motioned for him to get out of the car. He knew that if he didn't get out, Toby would make him get out and he was guessing that Toby's way would be rather painful.

Greg unbuckled his seatbelt, cautiously unlocking the door then got out of the car, warily following Toby off towards the building.

Toby was going a little too fast for Greg and whenever Greg stepped down on his bad leg or made a bad move he hissed and groaned in pain. Greg was pretty sure he could hear him laughing at his misery. Yeah, he was still pissed about the whole knock out thing.

They made it to the door and Toby knocked once. The familiar peephole opened and they were met by a pair of misty blues.

"I've got the delivery." Toby announced. The peephole slid closed and an arrangement of locks clicked open. The door slowly opened, revealing a man stood on the other side. Toby walked past the man, while Greg limped past him, he wasn't shocked to see he was heavily armed.

When they were both inside the door was closed again and the security was re-engaged.

Looking around the sanctum he saw two metal chairs positioned in the middle of the room that had been spot lighted. On one of the chairs seated his father who had a casual smile on his face.

Greg walked towards his father, standing behind the chair while Toby moved to stand beside him. "Glad you could make it Gregory. Please, please sit down! Get off that bad leg of yours." George insisted, gesturing to the chair in front of him.

Hesitantly Greg limped around the chair and sat down.

"You wanted to talk to about my future, whatever that means, so start talking so I never have to see your fucking face again." Greg said, letting the bitterness roll off his tongue with ease.

"We'll I was going to try and be civil but since you want to be all business, I'll get right down to business. Since Sean can no longer fulfill his duties, seeing as he is in prison I need another right hand man that I can trust to keep all my secrets and can take over when I'm gone." George said, crossing his right leg over his left.

Greg couldn't help the laugh that escaped his throat. His father actually used trustworthy to describe the aspect of their father-son relationship and not only that but he wanted Greg to take over, that was just laughable because Greg would rather die than do that.

"Does something amuse you?" George asked curiously.

"You honestly want me to be your new right hand man? I would purposely give away all the shifter's secrets and kill you in your sleep." Greg smiled.

Greg heard the clicking of guns around him and the very distinct click of Toby's gun on the side of his head.

"Calm down everyone there's no need for those, he was only joking." George made a lowering motion with his hands.

The firearms were slowly and reluctantly put away.

"I was expecting as much that is why I have had my men make a special pick-up." George snapped his fingers and another light illuminated another chair, only who he saw bound and gagged to the chair made his blood boil.

Irene Sanders was bound and gagged and she had a rather large goose bump on the side of her head. But if that wasn't blood boiling enough there was a man standing behind her that had a gun pressed to the back of her skull.

There was also tear tracks down her cheeks and her eyes were puffy and red.

"What do you think you're doing?" Greg tried to get up but Toby had walked behind him and forced him to remain seated.

To make sure he didn't try to bolt he kept a firm grip on his shoulders.

"Threatening Nick was beginning to lose its edge so I had to come up with something new and though it pains me; your mother was the only option I had." George replied.

Greg could tell that the sadness in his voice was fake, but that wasn't at all shocking. "Let her go you son-of-a-bitch!" Greg tried to stand up from the chair again but Toby's grip increased and Greg was forced to remain in his seat yet again.

"I want to let her go Greg and allow her to return safely to California, but her safety all depends on your actions." George replied.

Greg looked to his mom and could practically feel her fear. He wished he could do something to help her, but his father was more powerful than him and could easily overpower him.

"Don't worry mom, everything is going to be okay. I'm going to get you out of this." Greg said, trying to calm her fears. He wanted to give her more comfort but he couldn't from so far away.

He looked back to his father, slumping his shoulders in defeat. "Alright I'll do it, just let mom go and I'll do whatever you want."

Irene Sanders shook her head vehemently and tried to shout something through the gag but all that came out was high pitched mumbles.

"Excellent! Now that that's taken care of we can get the hell of out of here and make base elsewhere."

The light surrounding Greg's mother suddenly went out, taking his mom out of sight.

George stood up from his chair and stood towering over Greg, who was staring down at the floor in regret.

"Toby and Michael will accompany you back to your apartment so you can pack some of your personal belongings then drive you to the airport where a private jet will be waiting for us." George said, looking happily down at Greg.

George turned and walked away from Greg with all of his men, leaving two men behind. One was Toby so Greg presumed the other was Michael.

"I'll be seeing you shortly Gregory." George said over his shoulder.

When George and his men were completely out of sight Greg was forced out of the chair, but Toby practically dragged Greg to the door with Michael in tow.

~Back at the CSI Lab~

Warrick had been looking for Nick for a few minutes now. He didn't know where else to look then he heard the clanging of a metal locker door. He walked off into the locker room, seein Nick changing out of a coffee stained shirt into a clean one.

Nick closed his locker, looking up from buttoning up his new shirt to see Warrick at the door. "Hey man, what's up." Nick smiled, walking towards his best friend.

"You… need to go talk to Grissom." Warrick said seriously.

"Why? Does it have something to do with my case?" he asked curiously, wondering if the bug he found in his vic's mouth had some major significance.

"No." Warrick shook his head, not sure how to break this news to him. "Just go talk to Grissom right now." He instructed then without waiting for a reply Warrick walked out of the locker room to track down Catherine and Sara.

Nick stood in place for a few minutes, contemplating what Grissom needed to see him for if it wasn't about his case. The only reason he could come up with was that it had something to do with Greg, and coming to that thought he hurried out of the locker room and practically ran into his supervisor's office.

Without knocking Nick burst into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Tell me this has nothing to do with Greg, please!" Nick begged, beginning to pace in front of Grissom's desk from all the tense nerves in his body.

"Sit down and calm down before you hyperventilate." Grissom advised.

"Cut the bull and just tell me already!" Nick shouted, stopping his pacing and frantic breathing in front of his desk.

"Warrick received a call from Greg, he and I both fear that something may have happened to him. Warrick tried to trace Greg's phone, but either his phone is turned off or the GPS has been disabled." Grissom watched Nick intently, waiting for him to explode.

Nick just stood there, his face void of any emotion but Grissom could tell that the anger was building up because his hands were clenched so tightly by his sides and Grissom thought he was going to pop a blood vessel or something.

"I knew I shouldn't have left him alone and now that bastard has him!" In an explosion of rage Nick swept all the contents off Grissom's desk sending the items crashing to the floor.

Grissom stood up from his desk and looked sadly down at his destroyed butterfly collection, mourning its loss for a brief few seconds.

He looked away from his ruined collection, looking for the angry Texan again, but found he was no longer there; instead he was barreling off down the hallway with his keys in hand.

Knowing that with the state Nick was in he could do something reckless and get himself killed. Grissom hurried out of his office and bounded down the hallway to try and catch the furious Texan.

As he passed the briefing room his nightshift members looked up from the table, watching their supervisor hastily running off down the hallway.

In perfect synchronization they all leapt out of their chairs and hurried after their speeding supervisor.

In the parking garage Nick was practically sprinting towards his truck when he heard an exhausted shout of his name behind him. He stopped and turned to see his boss and a few paces behind him the whole nightshift crew.

"Nick you need to stop and think rationally! Going off by yourself with no clue of Greg's whereabouts is not going to help Greg, or you!" Grissom reasoned, with the other nightshift members standing beside him.

"I'm not just going to stand here and do nothing Grissom! I need to get Greg back!" Nick turned to continue going to his truck but the ringing of his phone once again stopped him.

He wanted to just ignore the call but there was hope in his mind that it was Greg calling, so got the phone out of his pocket as quick as he could with his co-workers looking on as he checked the caller ID.

Nick let out a disappointed groan that it wasn't Greg. But it was Korey; she may be calling to tell him where Greg was so he quickly answered. "Yeah?"

"Nick, George and his followers are back! I saw them entering the sanctum with some woman and when my source finally managed to get a hold of me, he said that George was planning on making Greg come with them to some Island in Tahiti!" she exclaimed in one breath, talking so fast that Nick could hardly understand her.

But he did understand that George was back and planned on taking Greg away from. Again!

"Have you seen Greg?" Nick asked, having still not turned around to face his co-workers so they still had no clue who he was talking to, so they proceeded to get a little closer to hear what he was talking about.

"He came in his car about fifteen minutes ago and Toby, he's one of George's thickheaded goons, met him at his car and they went inside the building. Greg, Toby and Michael, another one of George's goons left about 5 minutes ago. Nick you need to get down here now because from the looks of things George is getting ready to head out and from what I can tell Nick, Greg's going with him." Korey said, peering around the edge of a dumpster as she watched the two goons leading some woman into the back of one of their plain black vans.

"Where are you?" Nick asked, already thinking of different creative ways to kill George, each one more gruesome then the last.

"Where do you think I am! I'm outside the sanctum behind a dumpster! Now get your ass down here!" she snapped her phone shut then peered around the dumpster again.

Nick brought the phone away from his ear, without acknowledging the people behind him he sprinted off towards his truck, unlocked the door and jumping inside.

"Nick, where are you going man?" Warrick shouted over the rumble of the engine.

"The sanctum!" he shouted back. He pulled out of his parking space and whipped his car around to speed off out of the garage as fast as the car would allow him.

The others only stood in silence for a few seconds before sprinting into action and climbing into one of their separate Tahoe's. Warrick was driving while Catherine, Grissom and Sara were along for the ride.

~Back parking lot of Nick and Greg's apartment building~

Toby parked the van behind Nick and Greg's apartment building. He turned the van off then turned around in his seat to strike a menacing glare at Greg with a gun aimed directly at his head.

"Try anything and I swear to god I will not hesitate to put a bullet in you." he threatened.

Greg mutely nodded his head in understanding, not taking his eyes off the gun. He felt no emotion, even with a gun aimed at him, he was hollow, emotionless. With the prospect of knowing that he was never going to see Nick, friends and family again he was close to welcoming the release of death.

He was so far off in his mind that he didn't notice as Toby and Michael got out of the van. It wasn't until the van's side door was pulled open and he was roughly yanked out of the van was he brought out of his mindset and back into the real world.

As soon as he was standing upright again he felt the barrel of the gun pressing into his back.

"Start walking and if you try anything I swear to god I will kill you on the spot." He threatened once again as he pressed the barrel deeper into his back, forcing him to walk towards the building.

Greg's eyes were roaming back and forth trying to see if anyone could see what was going on and call the police, but the one time the parking lot was void of people was the one time he needed someone to be there for him to call the police. Typical!

They reached the back door and when he reached into his pocket to get his keys he heard the click of the gun and froze.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Toby hissed.

"Getting my key to the door out." Greg answered shakily.

"Slowly raise your hands up in the air." Toby ordered.

Without looking away from the back of Greg's head Toby spoke to Michael.

"Reach into his pocket and get his keys." he ordered.

Michael did as he was told, stepping up to Greg's side then reached into the pocket Greg had tried to reach in and retrieved the set of keys.

"Now open the door." Toby instructed. Michael walked forwards and put the key in the lock, slowly turning the handle and opening the door. He stepped inside so Toby and Greg could pass by. Toby pushed the gun deeper into Greg's back.

Greg stumbled inside the apartment with Toby behind him and Michael following close behind.

~The Sanctum~

As soon as Nick's truck parked in front of the building he jumped out of the truck. Right behind him Warrick parked the Tahoe with everyone else inside.

On instinct Nick had already taken out his gun and was scanning the area for any people. His eyes soon landed on Korey, who was kneeling behind a dumpster waving him and the others over.

They hurried over to her and took to hiding behind the dumpster as well.

"How many of them are there?" Nick asked in a hushed tone.

"Around… 20," She made a guess. "Maybe more. Their black van and George's limo is still here so they haven't left yet." Korey informed them.

"Why is that? They have what they came for so why stick around?" Warrick asked aloud.

"Could be their erasing their prints, making it seem like they were never here. It's definitely something George would do; staying long enough in one spot just for the thrill of possibly getting caught." Korey mused.

"I don't care why he's still here as long as he's within my reach that's all that matters," without warning Nick straightened out with his gun trained in front of him, hastily making his way away from the dumpster towards the wall by the door.

His friends were forced to watch in silence or else risk getting Nick shot by calling out to him as Nick reached out to try the handle. He would have looked through a window but the building had no windows, so he was going to have to put all his faith in god to keep him from getting shot because of not knowing where his opponents were.

He tried the handle, becoming suspicious when he found it to be unlocked. A man like George would never leave his front door open unless he had a plan in mind.

Taking a chance he took a breath then turned the knob. With his gun out in front of him he cautiously entered the building.

"The door is unlocked, shit!" George would never leave the doorway to the sanctum opened. Korey produced her own gun and ran across the premises and into the building.

The others were startled when the door suddenly slammed closed behind her.

They shot up from behind the dumpster and ran to the door, but when they tried the handle they found the door to be locked.

When Warrick tried to kick the door down he stumbled back and his leg tingled in pain. There was no way they were going to be able to kick the door down and bullets would just ricochet off the door.

"Dammit!" Warrick shouted, pounding his hand against the door.

~Inside the sanctum~

When Nick entered the sanctum he was submerged in darkness; all the lights were out and since there were no windows he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He jumped when the door behind him suddenly opened and was blinded when he turned around by the sunlight that suddenly lit up the room, if only for a second due to the fact that the door was suddenly closed. He couldn't see who had entered the building but he kept the gun aimed in the direction of the door.

"Nick, it's just me, Korey." Korey whispered, walking towards him so they were face to face.

Nick lowered his gun away from her but quickly turned back around when a noise caught his attention. It sounded like someone scraping a chair across the floor.

"So you are the man who stole my son's heart." said a deep voice that echoed off the walls.

Korey now had her gun trained in front of her and was standing beside Nick at the ready.

A light was suddenly turned on and Nick squinted his eyes at the sudden brightness. When his eyes adjusted to the light he saw a man, who was probably close to his mid 60's sitting in a metal chair, looking perfectly content with two guns being aimed at him.

"I think it's time you and I had a little talk about my son." George pointedly stated.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update this but I'm in a play that takes up a lot of my time and the play only has two more performances left so I should be able to update quicker. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did review please!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks for all the awesome help Holly, you freaking rock!**

~Back at Nick and Greg's apartment~

Greg entered his and Nick's apartment. The door was abruptly closed once everyone was inside. Toby pushed Greg, making him stumble forward, crying out from using his bad leg. When Greg turned around there was a gun in his face.

"You have five minutes to pack some of your belongings and since it is clear that I can't trust you. Michael will keep an eye on you." Toby informed him.

Michael stepped forward with his own gun out, forcing Greg to turn around and start walking towards his and Nick's bedroom. He entered the room and walked over the closet to get his old duffel bag. Greg dumped the bag onto the bed, unzipping it then walked over to the dresser to get some of his clothing.

While he was pawing through the drawer, he looked at the mirror in the bathroom and was able to see Michael standing in front of the door with his gun in hand watching Greg. When they made eye contact, Greg quickly looked down bringing out a small bundle of clothes over to the bag and dumped the pile inside.

He hurried away from Michael, walking back over to the closet, looking at the row of his and Nick's dress shirts. He reached out and ran his hand down one of Nick's shirts; it was the tight black short sleeved one that showed off his muscular chest and arms perfectly. This was Greg's favorite shirt, for obvious reasons.

Taking the shirt off its hangar, he discreetly inhaled his lover's scent; bringing tears to his eyes. This was probably the last time he would inhale his scent that smelled of his cologne, coffee and another smell that was purely Nick.

Folding the shirt up, he placed the shirt at the very top of his duffel. Hopefully Nick wouldn't mind that he had taken it.

He froze when he felt a presence behind him.

"How can you do it?" Michael asked curiously, not caring that he was in Greg's personal space.

"Do what?" Greg asked without turning around, wishing that Michael would take a few steps back.

"Give up your life to do something you don't even believe in." He answered, truly wanting to know why.

Greg was curious about Michael's motives behind these questions, but answered truthfully anyway.

"Because if I don't, George will kill my mother and the love of my life. So, the only way to keep them safe is by working for him. Then I will. My life would be meaningless without them."

"But why don't you use your ability? You could easily overpower George and his men then you could be with Nick and your mother. Then Nick would be safe." Michael persisted.

Greg finally turned around to face Michael who was just a few inches taller than him and looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you asking me all these questions? What are you trying to gain from this?" Greg demanded, wondering if his motives were dark.

"Just answer the question. Why can't you overpower them?" He asked again.

"I'm too weak. George has been using his ability longer than I have and if he wanted to he could make me turn a gun on myself and also because it wouldn't do any good! The injuries I got from the roof falling on me took away a lot of my strength, so even if I did try it would most likely kill me." Greg explained.

"What if you had some help?"

~Back inside the sanctum~

"Tell me where Greg is!" Nick demanded, aiming the gun at George's head.

"Now Nicholas there's no need for that unnecessary weapon. Why don't you put that gun down?" George calmly requested, staring at Nick intently.

A sudden pressure built up in Nick's head and he scrunched up his brow in pain. His vision got a little hazy and the hand that held the gun began to quiver. He blinked a few times to try and make it better but it did no good.

In the end he was forced to drop the gun and cradle his aching head.

"Nick?" Korey looked away from Nick and over at George who was smiling smugly. She immediately knew what George was doing, so she stalked over to George and kept the gun trained on his heart.

"Let him go George or I swear to god I will kill you!" She threatened.

George looked away from Nick who was now on his knees with his eyes pinched closed and cradling his head, groaning in pain. He looked innocently at Korey and smiled.

"I would be more concerned about yourself if I were you; after all I'm not the only one with a gun aimed at them." Korey was about to ask him what he meant, but the words caught in her throat when she heard the clicking of the gun behind her and the barrel of a gun resting against her head.

"Lower the gun Korey. I would hate to have to have Nicholas kill you." He said with a sickening smile.

The gun Korey was holding fell limp at her side and she stood stock still.

"Nick listen to me, you can fight him Nick! You don't want to do this." She stated, keeping her gaze on George.

~Back in Greg and Nick's apartment~

"Are you volunteering?" Greg asked, shocked and a little suspicious.

Michael put the safety of his gun on and put the gun in the waistband of his jeans.

"I've been trying to take George down for six years now, but he's more powerful than me and it wasn't until I saw what you were capable of that I started to believe that together we can stop him and his men." Michael said, his eyes lighting up at the thought of taking down George finally.

"Why should I believe you? For all I know this is just some trick to get me killed." Greg questioned.

Taking his gun out of his waistband he held the gun out for Greg to take. Greg took the gun and stared down at the cold object in his hand with a confused frown.

"That's the only weapon I have; I have no other ability besides shifting. As of right now you are the most powerful person in this room." Michael stated, taking a step back.

Greg looked down at the gun in his hand then back up at Michael who was waiting for him to say something.

"All right, but if I find out this is some kind of trick. I'll kill you." He warned him. He fingered the gun in his hand then held the gun out for Michael to take back.

"If we're going to be working together you're going to need something to protect yourself with." Michael took the gun back and took the safety off.

"We're going to have to take Toby out. So we're going to have to make a plan...grab your duffel and follow my lead." Michael said, taking charge of the situation. Greg was going to protest but thought better of it because fighting wouldn't solve anything.

Greg zipped up his duffel and slung the strap over his shoulder then followed Michael out of the room and down the hall into the living room. When they entered the living room Toby was lounging on the couch flipping through the channels.

"'Bout damn time! What were you two doing, giving blowjobs to each other." He crudely joked, giving out a horse laugh.

While Toby was too occupied laughing at his own joke, Michael looked at Greg and nodded. Michael raised his gun and whistled at Toby.

Toby looked up from the floor and was a little startled when he saw Michael with a gun pointed at him and was sporting a smug grin.

Reacting quickly Toby made a move to grab his gun off the coffee table, but Greg saw what he was doing. Using his telekinesis Greg flicked the gun off the table and onto the floor where it clattered across the floor and under his bookshelf. Even that small act weakened Greg so he dumped the duffel that now felt like it weighed a ton and leaned against the nearest wall.

"What are you doing man? I thought we were on the same side!" Toby protested, outraged at this betrayal. Michael and him had been best friends for years. They had fought together, killed together and even helped nurse each other's wounds.

"No, we haven't been on the same side since you helped cover up Tina's murder, but even before that all the killing and the needles violence, it got to me Toby and I'm sick of it man! I'm sick of the nightmares and seeing the blood on my hands of everyone that I've hurt over the years. So I figure that the only way to stop all of this and bring justice to Tina is by taking down George! I know I've committed horrendous acts too, but I'm going to repent for them for the rest of my life. You're in my way of doing that so...goodbye Toby." Michael took aim and fired.

The bullet whizzed straight through the air towards Toby. Greg watched with a transfixed glare as the bullet encased itself into Toby's head. A few seconds of shock flashed across Toby's face before his body caught up with him and he fell backwards, crashing on the couch with his eyes staring up at the ceiling and a thin line of blood traveling down from the bullet hole.

Michael walked over to Toby and stood in front of his dead body. Brain matter and clumps of hair were splattered across the couch, floor and the walls behind Toby. The only thought that crossed Greg's mind was that he needed to get a new couch, or possibly a new apartment.

"That was for Tina." Michael stated, raising the still smoking gun, firing two more rounds into his heart. "And that was for me." He added.

Greg just stood in shocked silence. He had just witnessed Michael kill Toby and completely destroy Nick's sofa.

Greg knew he should have felt some kind of relief, but all he could feel was shock. He had just witnessed a murder and if he had been on the job he would have called the murder in, but this time he was simply going to walk away.

"We have to get out of here, your neighbors have probably already called the cops and I don't intend to stick around long enough to get cuffs slapped on." Michael turned around and walked over to Greg who was still in shock over what happened.

"I know this isn't the first time you've seen a dead body, now suck it up and follow me." Michael waited a few moments, but when it became clear that Greg wasn't going to comply as he was still too shocked. He grabbed Greg's arm and dragged him out of the apartment.

As they were walking through the building, Michael still had his gun out in plain sight and the tenants that were out in the hallway panicked at the sight of the gun and ran inside their apartments to call the police.

They reached the door and bounded down the stairs to the back parking lot, over to the black van. Michael unlocked the doors and pushed Greg into the passenger seat then ran around in front of the van to climb into the driver's seat.

"Buckle up man because if we get stopped because you weren't wearing a seatbelt then I'm going to kick your ass." Michael put the key in the ignition, turning it to start the engine. Putting the van in drive, he whipped out of the parking lot, almost clipping an extremely luck pedestrian.

Greg hastily yanked his seatbelt on and held onto the safety bar for dear life. "Where are we going?" Greg shouted over the roar of the engine.

"The sanctum. Your dad stuck around in case any 'unwelcome visitors' came by and he wanted to greet them properly." Michael turned a sharp left corner and Greg's shoulder rammed up against the window and he grunted in pain.

~Back inside the Sanctum~

"Put the gun down Nick." Korey pleaded, her voice quivering with fear.

George continued to look at his work with pride and pulled a chair up behind him and sat down. He even had the audacity to pull out a cigarette and light it up. He inhaled the toxins and puffed out a line of smokey O's.

"I can't." Nick grounded out, his finger quivering over the trigger.

"Go ahead Nicholas, shoot her." George goaded, reclining back in his chair.

Nick began to panic when his finger gently started to push on the trigger and in an act of desperation he tried to think of different ways to save Korey's life. He came up with only one option that would insure Korey's safety.

"Shoot me!" He practically shouted, trying to slow his finger's descent.

"What?" Korey said, hoping she hadn't heard him right.

"Shoot me now! I can't hold back forever!" He repeated desperately.

Taking a few precious seconds to mull over her thoughts, she quickly and regretfully twirled around and shot Nick in the right shoulder. Nick cried out in pain and fell to the floor, crying out again when his wounded shoulder banged against the concrete floor.

The gun clattered out of his hand and across the floor. Instinct crept in and Nick applied pressure to the wound.

George was a little taken aback with the events that just transpired. He stood up from his chair and a rare moment happened, George was lost for words.

Korey turned around and once again aimed the gun at George's head.

"No one's here to save you now George, face it, it's over!" Korey stated smugly.

"Not quite my foolish girl, I still have one resource left...you." The smug smile returned to George's face as in one millisecond Korey's own gun turned on her.

"I always did love an ironic ending." George cheerfully smirked, sitting back down in his chair and going back to smoking.

~Greg and Michael~

The van came to a screeching halt and Greg would have gone flying through the windshield if he hadn't of had his seatbelt on. Greg looked up from his lap and saw his co-workers huddled around the doorway to the sanctum banging on the door while Grissom was on the phone and by the looks of it yelling to whoever was on the other end.

Greg quickly unbuckled himself and leapt out of the car then dodged over to his friends. In their state of mind they hadn't even noticed the screeching of the van so they were surprised when Greg was suddenly by their sides.

"Greg? Where the hell have you been? We've been worried sick about you!" Sara practically screamed at him, going over to Greg and embracing him in a crushing hug.

"I can't explain right now." Greg looked around at his friends and noticed that his lover wasn't among them. Now panicked his breathing sped up and he grabbed Sara by the shoulders. "Where's Nick?" He asked, his heart picking up at every second that Nick wasn't with him.

Sara looked down at the ground and the others looked away from him as well, a distinct look of regret crossed their features.

Grissom had overheard Greg's question and when he didn't make a move to answer his question Greg knew that something was wrong, deadly wrong.

"Tell me where he is!" He shouted, shaking Sara by the shoulders.

She finally looked up at him and she had tears in her eyes.

"He's inside." she said, barely above a whisper.

Warrick was the one who spoke next, voicing what else they were keeping from him.

"Greg...we heard a gunshot and...Nick's scream." Warrick said, failing at keeping at the tears at bay.

When he had heard that gunfire and the heart stopping cry of his best friend he had practically emptied his gun shooting at the door, trying to make a way in. He probably would have kept firing if Catherine hadn't pulled him back and told him that he had to stop or else he could risk hitting Nick, Korey or the bullets could ricochet off and wound one of them.

But Warrick already knew that Nick had been hurt and he had no way of knowing if he was still alive or not. It was like Nick's kidnapping all over again, not knowing if his friend was alright and if he would ever see him again.

He hated feeling so useless.

Greg let go of Sara's shoulders and stumbled back. He didn't even feel the pain when he stepped on his injured leg.

"No." he shook his head in denial and felt the hopelessness build up within him.

Michael was now at Greg's side and since the others didn't know who he was they raised their weapons and ordered him to step away from Greg.

"No, he's okay, he's on our side. He helped me escape." Greg explained to them. His friends cautiously lowered their weapons and returned to trying to find a way to get into the building, not even bothering to ask the guy his name.

Greg turned to Michael and in a burst of irrational anger, which he knew was really directed at his father. He grabbed Michael by the collar of his shirt and a look of shock and fear came over Michael's features.

"You and I both know there's a way inside!" Greg said with a crazed look in his eyes.

Michael immediately knew what he was talking about and looked over at the wall beside them. He turned back to Greg and voiced his objections.

"There are security walls in there that will electrocute anyone who shifts through; we'll be lucky if we aren't fried to death!" Michael objected, trying to wrench Greg's death grip off his shirt, but Greg's surprising strength held on.

"You said you wanted to stop George? This is your only shot at it! And I sure as hell am not going to allow Nick to die by that sadistic bastard's hands!" Greg screamed, determination building up inside him, he let loose a roar and propelled both him and Michael through the wall, barely giving enough time for Michael to shift.

As soon as their bodies shifted into the wall they were met by extreme forces of electricity that shot through their bodies, making them cry out in pain and agony as burns painted themselves on their skin.

Greg closed his eyes and prayed that his insane plan would at least give him enough time to make sure that Nick was alright.

After what seemed like hours, but was really only seconds Michael and Greg tumbled out of the wall, their flesh literally sizzling, their clothes had long jagged cuts in them from the electrical shocks and they were panting from the pain their burns were causing.

Greg heard Michael groan and he managed to lift his head high enough to see that Michael was clutching at a particularly bad burn around his throat. Greg knew that half of the reason that Michael was feeling so much pain was because he was putting pressure on the burn, but he didn't have the time to tell him. He needed to find Nick and kill his sadistic father.

Rolling, painfully onto his stomach he held in the gasp of pain that wanted to erupt from his throat as he put all his weight on his arms and shakily lifted his upper body up from the ground until he could see his father standing in front of Korey who had her gun pointed at herself. Greg looked around further and his eyes widened in horror when he saw Nick lying on the floor with a small puddle of blood around him, leaking from between his fingers from the wound in his right shoulder.

"Nick!" Greg scrambled to Nick's side, ignoring the pain emitting from his jerky movements and immediately took Nick's hand off the wound to see how bad it was. By seeing how deep the wound was he completely forgot about Korey's problem.

"Ah damn it Nick, what did you do?" not being able to do anything else for him he applied pressure to the wound and in a déjà vu moment Nick hissed and cracked his eyes open. When his vision became a little clearer his eyes widened when he saw Greg kneeling over him with long strips of burns, which were still sizzling along his arms, neck and face not to mention that his clothes had been ripped up.

"Greg..." he tried to speak, but couldn't because he was overcome by a coughing fit that rattled his wounds, causing him more pain.

"Shh, don't speak. I'm going to get you out of here, I promise." Greg leaned down and planted a passionate kiss on Nick's lips, but pulled away before Nick could respond.

"Gregory son, so pleased you could join us. Though I have to say I was not informed you would be bringing a guest." George said, looking over at a withering Michael.

Greg made a move to stand up. Nick mustered up enough strength from his depleting supplies and grabbed Greg's right forearm, trying to keep him from getting up.

"Don't." he whispered, desperately trying to keep Greg away from the mad men.

Greg looked away from his father and down at Nick who was pleading him with his eyes to stay with him.

"You're going to be fine." Planting another kiss on Nick's lips, before he could protest Greg was easily able to remove Nick's limp grasp and shakily stand up from the floor.

"Greg!" Nick whimpered, reaching out and grasping air. He was forced to watch helplessly as Greg made his way over to Korey and George.

"Hello father." He took a moment to glance over at Korey who was shaking with fear. "I see you've been keeping yourself busy." He took his eyes away from Korey and back over at his father who was calmly smoking his cigarette and reclining back in a chair, a position that Greg had seen his father in many times growing up.

He would walk into the living room as a small boy and ask his father to play a board game with him, but his father would decline and say that he was busy. Now that Greg thought about it he wondered what had made his dad a hero in his eyes. He never did any outstanding good deeds like helped an old lady cross a street or teach him how to ride a bike, his mother had done that and it was definitely not because he wanted to grow up to be just like his dad, who was a supervisor at a paper factory, or so he had thought, but come on, who wants to supervise paper making all day? Definitely not him.

"I take it since you managed to get here; Toby is no longer in the equation." George summarized, puffing a stream of smoke out of his mouth as he talked, revealing yellowing teeth that made Greg want to gag.

"Let them go dad, this is between you and me." Greg pleaded, using the corner of his eyes to check how Korey was holding up. He saw a small, almost unnoticeable tear track down her cheek and if it hadn't of been for her puffy eyes and the way her skin glistened from the tears he wouldn't have noticed.

"No Greg, you brought them into this, so technically they are a part of this. A big part. Korey was the one who helped you escape the first time and gave you information. Nick is a part of this only by the fact that you love him and therefore I have strong suspicions that you've told him all about shifting and finally Michael who I'm guessing helped you escape and most likely killed Toby. What a shame too. I actually sort of like the big guy, but no use crying over spilled milk; there are more important things to discuss like how you plan on walking away from this one." George stood up from his chair, dropped the cigarette and stamped the ambers out with his foot.

"Are you threatening to kill me dad?" Greg asked, already knowing the answer.

"You've proven to be too much of a...menace and I can't risk shifting secrets being revealed to the world and technically you did threaten to kill me, so yes I guess I am going to kill you, not threatening mind you because well I guess I'm sick of only threatening and never actually going through with the threat." George said, now standing directly in front of his son. He was so close that Greg could smell his fowl smoker's breath and had a perfect view of his yellow teeth.

Greg was silent for a few moments, contemplating his next move. He looked over at Korey then back at his dad.

"I'll make you a deal. If you allow Nick, Michael and Korey to walk out of here unharmed then they are right now. I'm willingly to get down on my knees and let you kill me anyway you want to." Greg bargained, speaking quietly so that the only people who could hear him was Korey and his father.

"Greg please don't do this, just get Nick and get out here!" She pleaded, more tears cascading down her face.

George seemed to be thinking over Greg's bargain before coming to a decision.

"Sorry, but I can't trust them to keep their mouths shut." George replied, looking back at Korey as she began to sob even louder when her finger started to press down on the trigger.

"Wait! Wait please! Think about it! They go talking about shifting to the world. People are going to think they're insane! So please, the only person who you have any reason killing today is me. Now I'm begging you, let them go!" Greg pleaded, praying that deep inside that dark hole of a heart his father could do the right thing.

A few moments of intense silence filled the room and Greg held his breath, preparing for whatever decision his father would make.

"Alright Gregory, we'll do things your way. As a last request." George finally said.

Without even looking at Korey he released her from the hold he had on her and she gasped in relief as her finger backed off the trigger and the gun dropped out of her hand. She stood in relieved shock, sighing in relief.

"Korey." Greg said looking over at her, but keeping his father in his peripheral vision to make sure he didn't go back on his deal.

When she didn't acknowledge him he spoke again, only louder. She finally acknowledged him and when she turned to face him Greg could see that her body was trembling and more tears had made their down her cheeks.

"Korey listen to me, I need you to get Nick and Michael out of here and no matter how much Nick protests or pleads you have to keep going until you and the others outside are a safe distance away from here-" Korey tried to protest but Greg kept on talking, not letting her get a word in. "Please Korey do this for me, I need to know that Nick is safe and you're the only one I trust to get him out of here and to get him the help he needs. Please Korey, as a last request do this for me." Greg begged, the tears building up in his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall because he wouldn't give his father the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Korey bit her lip and fresh tears sprung from her eyes. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Greg, her tears soaking Greg's collar. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back, trying to soothe her.

"You're such an asshole for doing this" She sniffed hard. "I hate you so much." She cried into his shoulder. He knew she didn't really mean it, she was just upset and he could understand that.

"It's okay shh...I promise everything will work out in the end." He pulled away from her and she wiped her eyes with the heel of her palm. "You take care of yourself okay? And don't get into any more trouble." He playfully warned her. This got a heartbroken laugh out of her and for a split second a smile appeared on her face but vanished just as quickly.

"Maybe I'll see you up there someday." She said starting to back away from him, too afraid to turn her back just yet.

"I'll be waiting at the gate for you." He replied with a sad smile. She nodded her head then finally turned around and walked over to Nick who was still on the ground, applying pressure to his wound, oblivious to the events that had just taken place.

Greg watched as Korey helped Nick up from the floor then turned back to face his father who was handling Korey's gun like it was a toy.

"You would think the most efficient way to kill someone would be shoot them point blank in the head, but I've found a method that I personally think works just as efficiently," as George spoke Greg could hear the scuffle going on behind him and he knew it was Nick when he heard his lover's anguish cry of protest, refusing to leave without Greg. "I noticed you didn't say goodbye to him." George noted as he set the gun aside and wiped his hand on his pants as if he had just touched a dirty object.

"It would have been too hard...for both of us and I know he would have tried to find a way to get me out of this, but the truth is, this is the only way I know I can protect him is by taking myself out of the equation." Greg answered.

He heard one last cry of protest from his lover before the slamming of a door came and he knew that that would be the last time he would ever hear the voice of his lover.

"That's very admirable of you Gregory. At least I did one thing right raising you." George commented, seeming almost proud which sickened Greg because it gave insight that his father thought of him as a disappointment.

"Get down on your knees." His father suddenly said, the humor now completely gone from his voice and face. He was all business now and the current business: killing his own son.

Greg complied and got down on his knees, only wincing because he had become accustomed to the pain from using his bad leg so often today. George stood in front of his son and for a split second a look of regret crossed his features before returning to his nonchalant expression.

"It grieves me that it had to come to this Gregory." George said, surprisingly actually meaning what he said.

As George went on to talk about some of the great sacrifices other father's had made, Greg's eyes wandered behind his father when he saw the gun on the chair.

Maybe he could still make it out of here alive, but he would have to act quickly.

"...I guess he was right after all." His father finished with a sigh, almost as if he was in disbelief.

"Yeah sure, can we just get on with this?" Greg said, feigning annoyance but was really concentrating on the gun. As he had told Michael before he was still extremely weak, but with the little practice he had earlier. It didn't take as long for the gun to slowly start to rise off the chair and rise up into the air until it was behind his father's head. Now came the tricky part, getting the gun to fire.

"Even at death's door you still have that smart mouth of yours." George chucked.

"Well I might as well go out with a bang right?" Greg retorted, his hands turning into fists at his sides from the heavy concentration.

"Yes I suppose a man like yourself would like to go out with a 'bang' as you put it, enough with the chatter now." George was about to place his hand on Greg's head to basically put his brain in so much distress that he would keel over but the mouth of a gun against his head stopped his movement.

"As a Japanese proverb once wrote 'if you have to kill a snake, kill it once and for all' and I intend to kill the venomous snake I see before me." Greg stated, quoting the quote he had once read online that seemed very fitting for this occasion. He looked up at his father, who was frozen in shock and he could only shake his head at this pathetic sight before him. Without his armed guards protecting him, George Jonathon Sanders was nothing more than a weak minded man.

"I'm sure you and the devil will get along just fine," and without another word the trigger of the gun pressed down and a bullet spiraled through his father's head then sped out the other side and imbedded itself in a wall.

Blood and brain matter spewed forth from the entry wound and some sprayed over Greg.

George's body sunk down to the floor then crumpled to the floor with George's eyes staring up in fright at the ceiling.

There was sudden banging on the door leading into the sanctum and Greg looked behind him just in time to see the end of a battering ram from the SWAT unit busting the door down. The SWAT team huddled into the building, flashing their guns around, searching the building for any criminals but were met with only a dead body and CSI Gregory Hojem Sanders.

"Clear!" The SWAT leader shouted. After hearing this Greg heard another voice that he feared he would never hear again.

"Greg! Let me go, I need to see him!" Nick bused past the row of SWAT members and Greg saw that he had no shirt on and if this was a different situation Greg would have been drooling but the loosely wrapped bandage around the wound ruined any thoughts of jumping Nick. The bandage was so loose that it looked as if he had upped and left in the middle of the job and Greg was pretty sure that that was the case.

Coming to a halt in front of Greg he dropped to his knees and carefully cupped Greg's face, being mindful of the burns on his face that thankfully and miraculously didn't appear to be as bad as they should have been. Greg looked into his lover's eyes and he could see the tears running down his face and he could feel his own as well. He reached out with his right hand and ran his thumb along Nick's jaw.

"Don't you ever pull another stunt like that again!" Nick scolded.

"Don't worry, my daredevil days are over. I intend to spend many, many, many more years with you." Greg assured him. And he was sure as hell going to keep that promise.

A smile graced Nick's features and he leant in and captured Greg's lip in a desperate lip lock. Greg moaned on contact and wrapped his arms around Nick's neck, being careful not to aggravate Nick's wound as well as his own burns.

They regretfully had to part when air became a necessity. Nick rested his forehead against Greg's and both breathed in a lung-full of air.

"I love you." Nick panted, leaning back and tilting his head up to plant another kiss on Greg's forehead before resuming his original position.

"I love you too Nicky." Greg replied, wrapping his arms around Nick's neck and inhaling his scent.

God he missed that intoxicating smell!

They were soon joined by the others who embraced Greg in desperate hugs of relief. And in their haste to hug their dear friend they didn't notice the burns all over his body and he cried out in pain, pushing them away from him.

"Greg...? Oh my god Greg!" Sara panicked, seeing the burn marks all over his face, arms and neck. "Are you okay?" She asked, carefully putting her hands on his shoulders, now being careful of the pressure she applied to his skin.

"It only hurts if you apply too much pressure, most of its just 1st degree burns, nothing to worry too much about." Greg assured her.

"We need to get some paramedics in here!" Catherine shouted from the doorway, having hurried over to the door when she saw the state Greg was in.

"Don't worry Greg, help is on the way, you're going to be just fine" Sara smiled, affectionatley ruffling Greg's blond hair. She took her hand off Greg's shoulder and made room for the paramedics who arrived to mend to Greg's burns and get him and Nick off to the hospital.

When they tried to get Greg on the body board he refused and told them he could walk, of course he needed a little help from one of the male medics, but once he was standing Greg managed to walk on his own to the ambulance with Nick's hand in his own.

They had finally been reunited together and they didn't plan on being torn apart ever again.

**A/N: Sorry it took so long but I had to have this chapter as close to perfect as possible. If you enjoyed this chapter review, please!**


	16. Chapter 16

**You rock Holly! Couldn't have gotten this far without you helping me!**

~One Month Later~

Greg woke up in a cold sweat, gasping and panting in fear from the nightmare that he had just managed to wake from.

He had been experiencing the same dream for the past two weeks; in the dream he was back in the sanctum and all around him were the people he had killed. Demetrius James, his chilling ghostly eyes glaring up at him accusingly with his mangled body. Doctor Needles with the horror shining through his eyes like a beacon and his snapped neck that had a bone actually sticking out the left side. And lastly his father, his was the worst expression, surprised and horror struck eyes; looking up at him in a way that made him feel like a true monster and the bullet hole that went clear through his head, giving him a sick view through his head to the floor beneath him.

It would start as a low whisper, like the turning of a page in a semi-loud room then it would become as loud as a sonic boom. The word **'Monster!'** being screamed in his ear so loud that it felt like his eardrums were going to burst.

He dropped to his knees with his hands pressed so tightly to his skull that it felt like two 200 pound weights were pressed against his skull. But no matter how hard he pressed, the voices kept getting through, seeming to only get louder. And every night he would wake up when he saw a shadow standing over him with blood dripping down onto his head and sliding sickeningly down his face.

Seeming to put a weight of guilt on his soul.

He would slowly look up from the ground, his hands moving away from his ears when the harsh words appeared to have stopped. When he met the glowering face of his father, the blood running down his face like a sick biblical river. His father would reach out for him and a silent scream would erupt from his throat, but right before his father would touch him he would wake up.

He got up from the bed, being careful not to wake Nick, and walked down the hallway to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Stopping in front of the sink he reached over for a coffee cup and filled the cup with tap water. Raising the cup to his lips he took a large gulp, soothing his aching throat then set the cup down and with the heels of his hands, leant against the counter.

"Wonder if she's even there?" He asked himself as he leaned back from the counter and walked over to the phone. There was a moment of hesitation as he held the phone in his hand.

Should he really bother her with this?

He knew he should probably be talking to Nick or a psychiatrist but he didn't want to talk to a complete stranger about his bloody nightmares and he really didn't want Nick to know how truly messed up he was. But with her, he knew she wouldn't look at him any differently, and deep down he knew that Nick would help him overcome his fears and soothe him when he came out of a nightmare, but he didn't want him to know he was slowly cracking inside.

Coming to a resolve he dialed the number and held the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey Korey, I was just calling to see how you were doing?" Greg said, awkwardly trying to start a conversation, while thinking of how he should phrase what needed to be said.

"Hi Greg, I've been good. Getting ready to head home and see my family again. How about you?" She asked conversationally.

"Good, good...actually the past week has been kind of tough." Greg admitted, leaning against the counter.

"What's been going on Greg? Trouble with Nick?" She asked, carefully choosing her words.

"No everything's great with Nick, it's just something that's going on in my mind, and I guess I called because I need an outlet." Greg sighed, rubbing his brow.

"How about I meet you at that cafe across from the Hot Top and we can talk? I feel like we need to be face to face and I'm also a little hungry." Korey suggested.

Greg bit his lip and tilted his head to look down the hall at Nick and his closed bedroom door.

"Greg?" Korey asked, a little concerned when Greg remained too quiet for much too long.

'"Yeah sorry. Sure, I'll meet you down there in 15 minutes. Bye." Greg replied, mentally scolding himself for zoning out like that and causing his friend to worry more.

"Okay, see you then. Bye." Korey hung up.

Putting the phone down Greg pulled the pad of paper, that Nick and him used to leave messages, grocery lists etc. to him and wrote a letter to Nick in case he woke up before he got back.

Nick,

Couldn't sleep so decided to take a

jog around the park. Be back in an hour.

Greg.

After quietly walking back into the bedroom he set the letter down on his pillow and grabbed Nick's A&M hoody from over a chair, pulling the garment down over his head. Before he left he took his wallet off the dresser then one last glance at sleeping Nick before walking out of the room and quietly closing the door behind him.

He walked out of the apartment and was only mildly surprised to find that it was raining, after all he wasn't going through enough crap why not throw pneumonia into the mix!

Fumbling with his car keys he finally managed to get the right one and practically jam the key into the lock, turning the key. As soon as the door was open he jumped inside and slammed the door close behind him, a blanket of rain splashing off the car from impact, but was immediately covered by another blanket of rain.

Greg shook the rain out of his hair; the droplets splashing all over the interior of the car. Wiping his wet hands on his car seat, he stuck the key in the ignition, turned the key and the car came to life. He pulled away from the curb and out onto the road.

Arriving at the cafe 10 minutes later he pulled his hood on then quickly jumped out of the car, locked the door behind him and ran across the street to the cafe.

He entered the cafe, the bell on the door chiming his arrival and lowered his drenched hood down. He was soaked from the hair down and with every step he took a loud squelching sound erupted from the floor causing everyone to turn and state at him in annoyance. He ignored the stares and sat down in the nearest booth, picking up a menu and flipped through it. He didn't intend on ordering anything other than a coffee, but he needed to do something with his hands.

A minute later a waitress wearing the cafe's standard uniform that consisted of a pale green button up dress, white apron that went up to her midsection and a name tag that proclaimed the name 'Christine'. Her hair was curly red, held up in a ponytail, freckled skin, multiple pierced ears and she looked to be around 23, so most likely a college student.

"What can I get you?" She asked in a bored tone, having obviously asked this too many times in her employment here.

"I'll just take a cup of coffee." He answered, closing the menu and setting it aside.

"Decaf or regular?" She asked, her pen poised in the air.

"Regular."

She wrote his order down and ripped the page out. "Coming right up, that'll be $1.50." She turned on her heels and walked over to the counter to get a coffee cup and the pot of regular coffee. She brought the full cup of coffee over to him and set it down in front of him. He thanked her and when she turned to leave he reached over to the little basket that contained the packets of sugar and pulled a handful out, cafe coffee tended to taste like tar so he didn't know how much sugar he would need to make the coffee even semi-drinkable.

As he was adding the sugar the bell chimed again and a mostly dry Korey entered the cafe, closing her umbrella and placing it on the coat rack by the hook next to the door. She walked down the lineal floor, her shoes squeaking as well and she also received dirty looks from the other patrons but like Greg she ignored them and slipped in the booth in the cushioned seat across from Greg.

"You know you're supposed to wear the hood when you go outside in a rainstorm." She mocked, sliding the menu over to her and flipping the plastic book open.

"I did but I forgot to wear it when I was running to my car and so not only did my hair get soaked but the rest of me as well. Not that the hood would have done much good anyway, the material is too thin." Greg concluded. He had added enough sugar to his coffee, so he lifted the cup to his lips and took a cautious first sip, when no gagging or coughing came he took a larger sip and placed the cup back down.

The same waitress came back and stopped in front of Korey, waiting to take her order.

"What can I get you?" She asked, once again bored out of her mind.

"Hmm...I'll take the flapjacks with a side of eggs and a glass of orange juice." She handed the waitress the menu, something Greg had failed to do and returned her attention to Greg.

"Coming right up, that'll be $6.75." The waitress ripped the order out of the book and walked behind the counter to deliver the order to the cook.

"So...you want to tell me about what's been bothering you?" She asked, clasping her hands together on the table and leaning forward. Greg took another sip of his coffee and licked his lips. He sighed and set his cup down. Looking down at the table, not wanting to make eye contact with her.

"I...I've been...having these dreams lately and it seems like every night they get worse and I'm starting to...think I'm really screwed up in the head." He started, his hands flexing and un-flexing in front of him.

Korey looked at him with concern in her eyes and reached out to take hold of his hands.

"What were these dreams about?' She asked in a soothing tone.

Greg bit the inside of his cheek and squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to relieve the horrible dreams again. She noticed his anxiety and squeezed his hands in reassurance, and quickly spoke to calm his anxieties.

"It's okay Greg, after what you've been through its understandable to have nightmares. Hell I've had nightmares!" She assured him. He looked up at hearing news of her own nightmares.

"Yeah, my dreams were about me being back in the sanctum with the gun aimed at my head, only this time you weren't there to save me so I ended up pulling the trigger, and the last thing I heard before waking up was the sound of George's laughter." She visibly swallowed and Greg saw that she was fighting back the tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Greg spoke, feeling responsible for the ordeal Korey had been put through.

"It's not your fault Greg. It's George's and he's dead, now meaning both of us are safe and I don't have to worry about him finding me." Korey assured him.

The waitress decided at that moment to return with Korey's food and set the plate, small pitcher of maple syrup, small packets of butter and a cup of orange juice in front of her.

"Thank you." Korey picked up a knife and a packet of butter up and began buttering her pancakes.

The waitress walked away to tend to another patron.

"You want to tell me what yours was about?" She picked up the pitcher of syrup and drenched the pancakes in syrupy goodness.

Greg grimaced in fear but since Korey had trusted him enough to tell him about her own nightmares he decided that he could trust her with his own, after all that's what he wanted to talk about anyway.

"Like you I'm back in the sanctum only...I'm surrounded by...corpses...corpses of...the...people I've killed! And they're just laying there! In the same position I last saw them. But the worst of them all was the face...of...my father. He was just staring up at me with horror in his eyes and there was this hole in his head with blood leaking down his face..." Greg's Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he took a shaky breath of air, lifting his gaze to the ceiling to keep the tears from pouring down.

The words that had been shouted at him before came back to mind and he physically had to stop himself from bracing his hands against his ear. **'Monster!'** He shook his head as if in denial then brought his gaze back to Korey and continued his story. Rather reluctantly.

"Then I would start hearing their voices screaming 'monster!' and then I would find myself on my knees, but no matter how hard I held my hands against my ears, the voices kept getting through and only seemed to get louder in octave. Then HIS shadow would appear in front of me and HIS blood would start dripping on my hair down my face and when I looked up I saw George standing over me, glowering with the blood dripping down his face making him look like a demonic being. When he starts reaching for my throat I scream soundlessly then before he can even touch me I wake up." Greg concluded.

Korey's appetite suddenly vanished and she set her fork down, pushing the plate aside. She reached across the table for one of Greg's hand and squeezed gently.

"Listen to me Greg. You. Are. Not. A. Monster. You are a hero."

He scoffed at the last part and tried to pull his hand away but Korey's grip increased and he was forced to stay in place. "A hero? You call someone who has killed people the way I have a hero?" He scoffed.

"All you did was protect yourself, so yes you are a hero; you had the guts to do what needed to be done and if you were a monster you wouldn't feel regret or remorse for what happened, but you do, so no I don't believe that you're a monster." She persisted, needing him to understand that what she was saying was the truth.

Tears started trailing down his cheeks and he didn't try hiding them because they weren't tears of self hatred or remorse but of happiness. Sappy but true.

"You know you sound just like Nick when I was in the hospital, guess great minds think alike, huh?" He chuckled, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Korey smiled at his positive change in attitude and let a little chuckle pass her lips.

"Yeah, I guess so. But seriously Greg you need to believe in the goodness in you because that shines through more than any of the bad you think you harbor." She said, making sure he got the message.

Greg nodded in understanding and pulled his hand away from Korey's grasp and picked up his cup to drink.

"There's something else I have to know Greg, why didn't you tell Nick any of this?" She asked curiously, going back to eating her meal.

Greg froze in his seat and a feeling of nervousness washed over him.

"You know how when you love someone you only want them to see the best of you? Well Nick has seen of a lot my dark times and I'm afraid that if he hears that I'm dreaming about death he'll leave me and I know that I wouldn't be able to handle a life without him" Greg confessed.

"I'm sure Nick would understand the dreams you're going through just or maybe more than I do. He loves you with all his being Greg, you should have seen him at the warehouse. He was and still is willing to do anything to make sure your safe, even if it means losing his life in the process. Now get off your ass and go to him, tell him everything and I promise you that he will love you no less." She promised.

After her speech her words finally got through Greg's thick skull and he finally understood and agreed that Nick would love him, Nick had said so himself.

_"Nothing you say or do will ever make me think of you as a monster or stop loving you." _Nick's words rang through his head, adding on to his assurance.

Greg stood up from the table and pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a $5.00 leaving a descent enough tip.

"Thanks Korey, for everything. Have fun visiting your family." Greg smiled, finally starting to feel at peace.

"No problem, and if you ever need anything just give me a call." She replied, standing up from the table she embraced Greg in a hug who hugged her back full heartedly. When they pulled apart Korey was smiling happily at him.

"Have a fantastic life Greg and as I said before if you ever need me for anything or you just want to talk or hang out give me a call." She repeated.

"You too Korey and the same goes for you." He gave her shoulder one last squeeze then turned and walked out of the diner.

When he was gone Korey sat back down and went back to eating her late breakfast.

~10 minutes later~

Greg parked in front of the apartment building and jumped out of the car. The rain had thankfully stopped by now so he wouldn't have to worry about tracking water in the building because that would really piss off the owner and Nick.

Running up the flight of stairs to his apartment Greg wasn't even winded when he reached his door and took his key out to unlock the door. Putting the key in the doorknob he unlocked the door and stepped inside. Quietly closing the door behind him Greg crept across the room and down the hallway back to their bedroom. Quietly opening the door he looked to the bed and was relieved to see Nick was still asleep. Tip-toeing over to his side of the bed, he crumpled up the note and tossed it in the trashcan. He removed his soaked clothing and changed into a dry pair of pajama pants then crawled under the covers.

Nick suddenly rolled over and rested his arm on Greg's chest and Greg thought this to be the best time to talk to him. He reached out towards his face and ran his fingers down his cheek. Nick smiled and leaned into the touch.

"Mmm...Greg..." He mumbled in his sleep.

"Nicky, wake up I need to tell you something." Greg said, leaning over and planting a kiss on Nick's lips. Nick's eyes opened and he responded to the kiss by cupping the back of Greg's head and deepening the kiss.

Nick pulled back and smiled at his lover.

"Hey, what's with the impromptu wakeup call? Which I enjoyed very much by the way." Nick asked, stealing another kiss.

"I need to talk to you about something, something really important." Greg said.

At hearing this Nick's expression turned serious and he sat up in bed, Greg did the same.

"What is it? Did something happen?" Nick desperately hoped this had nothing to do with their relationship, unless it was in a positive way of course.

"You know how I haven't been getting much sleep lately?" He began, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

"Yeah, I've been pretty worried about you." Nick reached out and ran his thumb over one of the black ring under Greg's eye. He had tried getting Greg to take some sleeping pills but Greg refused, stating that he didn't like the idea of going to sleep 'unnaturally'.

"The reason for that is because I've been having these nightmares and I've come to realize that no matter what I say or do you'll never think any less of me. You see, in these dreams I'm..." and Greg went on to tell Nick all about the dreams and even told him that he had met up with Korey and she had been the one to convince him to talk to Nick. Nick admitted to being a little hurt that he went to Korey first but understood his reasons for doing so, he was just afraid of losing Nick over this, which was completely impossibly, he would always love Greg.

After finishing his explanation he sat in silence, waiting for Nick to speak.

"You don't have to worry baby, no matter what you think I love you, and I will for the rest of my life. You have nothin' to feel scared about anymore because from now on I'll be there to protect you and whenever you have a nightmare I want you to wake me up and together we'll fight through it. Nothin' is ever going to tear us apart." Nick pulled Greg towards him and engaged him in a powerful kiss that left both of them breathless.

It was when air became a necessity that they had to pull apart so Nick pulled Greg close and burrowed deeper into the warmth of the blankets.

"I love you Nicky." Greg said, resting his head on Nick's chest.

"I love you too Greg, no matter what." Nick placed a kiss on the top of Greg's head and together, they thought of their future together.

No matter what life threw at them they knew that they would always stand together in the end.

**THE END :)**

**Just in case anyone is wondering Greg's mother is fine and back with Nana and Papa Olaf. The CSI's tracked down the remaining shifters and arrested them for kidnapping and other charges. **

**A/N: There you have it, the end of Shifting into love! I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did! Review and tell me how you thought about it! Thanks for sticking with me!**


End file.
